IEMQG General Meeting Minutes
July 7, 2018
Grand Terrace Community Center
22795 Barton Road, Grand Terrace, CA 92313

The meeting was called to order at 2:03 pm by Cat Wallace, VP of Programs (in the absence of Laura Greene).

Welcome – Warm-up

The warm-up statement was the “Fourth of July is the most important holiday of the year.” Attendees grouped under the sign that best represented their response to that question – Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. Cat went around to each group to listen into their discussions.  After a few minutes, Cat asked which group had mentioned “Thanksgiving” as almost each group had, Cat asked which group had mentioned “Unity” and as no group had specifically used that word, but two groups had used similar phrases.  At that point, we decided to choose a number and the group who came closest to the number won the prize.  Group Disagree won the prize.

Cat announced that there was a Nominating Committee chairperson position open and details would follow soon.

Committee Reports

Cat Wallace, VP of Programs, reported that the August meeting program will be a lecture on using specialty threads, by Shawnee Miller, called Thrilling Threads. In conjunction with the lecture, Shawnee Miller will teach a workshop on how to create a thread sampler during our August 19th Sit and Sew at Mountain Shadows. The workshop will be from 12:30 – 3:30 pm. Shawnee will provide fabric, threads and needles for us to create the thread sampler using different types of threads. The cost of the workshop is $35. A flyer for this event has been created and members were encouraged to grab one for more details. Our September meeting program will be the Song Challenge with Linda Rasmussen, a national quilt show judge, curating.  Our October meeting program will be the Upcycle Sale at Mountain Shadows on October 6th.  A flyer for this event has been created and members were encouraged to grab one for more details.

Gayle Bennett announced that if anyone hasn’t chosen a song title for the Song Challenge, she still has the bag of titles for them to draw from. Anyone who wants a different song can draw another one, for a $5.00 donation to the guild. The quilts will be presented at our September meeting and Linda Rasmussen has offered to curate the quilts for us once again.  The quilting retreat which is October 19-21 at the “Gather at the Hive” in Fallbook is full. For those you haven’t yet paid, payment of $160.00 is due by August 4th. In addition to paying by cash and check, you now have the option to pay via PayPal (via ‘Friends and Family’)

Shelley Wardrop showed us the Wonky House block submissions for this month. The Wonky House block lotto entries were won by Laura Greene. Shelley announced and showed samples for the August block lotto called Square in a Square. Instructions will be available on our website. Shelley also reminded members to submit past block lotto blocks to her if you forgot to bring them with you or are still working on them as you will be entered in the year end drawing.  Shelley will give the block lotto to the winner of that particular month.

Refreshments – Pat Klassen, reported that the members signed up to bring the August snacks were not at the meeting, however, she would be sure to remind them.

Hospitality Hostess – Pat Klassen reported that were 22 members, 2 NEW members and 5 guests in attendance. One of the new members was Josie and she is our founding Jr member!

Break – We visited, shopped Simone Bradford’s Pop Up shop and enjoyed snacks and beverages.

Meeting resumed at 2:52 pm.

Cat Wallace gave a warm introduction to our speaker and one of our own guild members, Simone Bradford. Simone took us through her journey from childhood through present day. At a very young age she knew she wanted to be an artist. And through high school and college, she followed her passion by obtaining a well-rounded and extensive education in many art mediums. We all enjoyed learning about her art background. Her friend Elizabeth introduced her to quilting by inviting her to a quilting retreat and giving her a quilting magazine. Then in February 2016, Simone decided to take a Designing Fabric class at Quiltcon 2016.  After that, she began sending patterns to fabric companies. She received a few rejections, but finally, Paintbrush Studio Fabrics gave her the go ahead to design/select colors for 3 prints of her collection, On Your Mark (she eventually talked them into a 4th print).  The process was tedious, took about a year, but she learned a lot. Paintbrush Studio Fabrics also requested that she create a quilt pattern and a quilt using her On Your Mark fabric collection. Her quilt, Gumdrops, was displayed at Quiltcon 2018 in Pasadena in Paintbrush Studio Fabrics’ booth and a free pattern is available on Simone’s website. Simone presented her beautiful quilts with the help of her daughter and friend, Elizabeth. Simone also provided 3 giveaways: 2 – Fat Quarters and 1 – Fat Eighth. The winners of the fat quarters were Christine and Cat and the winner of the fat eighth was Lynn. We look forward to all of Simone’s future successes.

Show and Share – Pat, Candy, Ginger, Kelley, and Lynn shared their amazing quilting creations.

Raffle Winners – Alisa Howe (General) and Lynn Hannah (Name Tag)

The meeting was adjourned at 3:58 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Brekke