November 2012 Meeting Minutes

Nov. 17th, 2012 Annual Meeting Minutes.  24 people present.
Tiffany called the meeting to order at 1:15 PM after a brief social time.  Announcements about the December potluck online sign up and swap sign up–they will soon be online and emailed to everyone on the email list.  Thank you to all who brought snacks.
We had a majority vote to approve the bylaws with one change brought up by Bonnie (right?).  She suggested we stick wtih PHXMQG instead of PMQG so we will   not have the same acronym as other cities that start with P.  Bylaws are approved.
Secretary’s Report:
BJ Bevins made the motion to approve the minutes.  Jen seconded the motion.  October minutes are approved.
Web Administrator’s Report:
Alyssa encouraged everyone to bring their FAVORITE project from the year to the December potluck meeting so she can photograph them for our website.  
She will be setting up an online form that everyone MUST complete before January 1st.  In order to attend the January meeting on the 17th, you must have this form filled out and pay your dues (cash or check for $25.00) on the 17th at the meeting (or it would be your one visit).  We will be emailing you the link as soon as it goes live.  She mentioned she will be adding links for Flickr and Pintrest to the blog (fb is already there).
Treasurer’s Report:Lisa reports we have a bank account.  (at Chase bank).  We are a “social club” for now but hope to eventually become a non profit.  
Show and Tell/Giveaway Chair Idea:  Gina will organize show and tell by having those who want to share place their items on the back tables (unless they are working on it during the meeting) so people can check them out as they come in to the meeting.  She will conduct show and tell from the back of the room and will keep the ball rolling.  People can then individually talk to the makers afterwards for more details on specific items.  This will help keep show and tell fair for all who want to share.
Planning Discussion:The majority of our meeting was centered around planning what our members want to do in the coming year.  We heard input from the majority of those in attendance throughout the discussion.  I did not put these items in order according to discussion, but have attempted to organize them by what we will for sure be doing and by the way they would be chaired since in January we will be asking for volunteers to chair the areas we are going with this year.

A few things that were quite popular that we are already doing or can get going on right away are:
Charity:  People like the idea of donating either kids quilts, bags or pillowcases to the police station as a way to thank them for letting us use their meeting room.  Drawstring bags seemed to be the most popular so that children in crisis would be given something to put their things in in the event of a move to foster care or some other placement.  Jacki Cohoon mentioned she could bring beanie babies to put in each bag for something for the kids to cuddle as well.  We will continue to work on our charity quilts as well.  Two-thirds of the group is interested in doing some kind of charity.  We will need a Philanthropy/Charity Chair next meeting.  

Free Table:  People may bring in any items they wish to give away to others and place it on a free table each month.  Other members can take anything they want from the table.  We need to decide who will be in charge of this table.
Question Jar:  We will place a jar on the welcome table for members to write down any questions they want advice on and if there is time at the end of the meeting we will draw questions and anyone can answer.  (Ex. What is your favorite erasable pen?)  the Hospitality/Snack Chair Bonnie can set this up and encourage members to use it.  (We need to add this to the by-laws).
Challenge of the Month:Our November challenge was to make Disappearing Nine Patch blocks to donate to Hurricane Sandy survivors.  There is interest in having more challenges.  We discussed posting challenges on the blog and having some kind of a sign up on the blog as well. 
We also discussed doing:
30 min Demonstrations or a Demonstration Day (Super Saturday)There was much interest in doing a demonstration day.  Possible topics brought up include:  curved piecing, foundational/paper piecing, pattern making, social media, blogging, fabric design, free motion quilting, wonky letters.  These demos would help us determine what workshops (longer time on same topic) member really want.   
Workshops (1-2 per year)One suggestion was having Sharon Schamber demonstrate how she bastes her quilts–her daughter Kristie was at the meeting and said her mom was willing to do one lecture.  Christi is also willing to do one on free motion quilting or some other topic.  
Modern Mystery Quilt:About a half a dozen people were interested in this.  Alyssa said she will try to write a modern mystery for us to do later on this year!  The mystery writer will most likely be the Mystery Chair person.  
Lectures:Someone suggested having a lecture about different modern designers (Amy Butler, Anna Marie Horner, Tula Pink, Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, Denyse Schmidt, etc.) so that we would be exposed to what these people do and where to find them on the web, etc.  Gina Halliday volunteered to either give the lecture or be our industry liaison keeping us abreast of what is going on in the modern quilt movement.  
Block of the Month: much interest in this, we will pick one and blog about it for a January start.  We will need a BOM Chair person.  
Block Lotto:  not much interest at this time, if someone wants to take charge of it a small group could get going on it
Bees:  There were about a dozen people present interested in doing a Bee.  This is where each person in a group of say 12, picks a block and has everyone make one with their request in mind.  Dani does these online and says they are really popular  and fun.  They can be done quarterly.  We will need a Bee Keeper.
Swaps:  much interest in this, both fabric swaps and finished items such as pincushion swaps.  We will need an Event and Swap Chair person to organize the swaps (and the sew-ins and swap visits).
Sew-Ins:  quite a few people were interested in having sew-ins where we work on whatever we want to work on either during or after our regular monthly meeting.  We will need an Event and Swap Chair person to organize the sew-ins (and the swaps and shop visits).
Shop Hop/Visit a Shop:  No real interest at this time, however people are interested in going to one shop at a time in the evening as a group occasionally.  Especially if we can get the store to give us a discount, or stay open and extra hour for us to shop.  This also led to discussion of getting a shop to sponsor us.  We will need an Event and Swap Chair to organize the visits (and swaps and sew-ins).
Quiltalongs:  there was some interest in this, but I think this would work out well on the blog if we want to do it virtually once a year or so and then share our finished quilt during a certain meeting.  If this does get going we will need a Quiltalong Chair.
Trunk Shows:  There were a few people interested in this.  

After some discussion about if people should volunteer immediately to chair the various committees, it was decided that the board will determine which items to move forward with for our first year and we will accept volunteers during the January meeting.  

Door prizes were drawn with about a dozen people winning various items Jona procured at Quilt Market.  Thank you Jona!
We did a group picture and a board picture at the end of the meeting.
At the end of the meeting a few people did show and tells in small bunches, and everyone looked over the items Jona brought from Quilt Market.

If you have any changes or things I have forgotten, please email me so the minutes can be changed before the December meeting.  Thank You!