The Moncton Modern Quilt Guild is back! 

Like everyone these days, finding our way through the pandemic has taken some time and thought. After a poll of the members with an almost unanimous vote to not meet physically, we have decided to move forward virtually, using webinar conferencing as our platform.

Our first meeting via Zoom with Debbie MacDonald hosting was held on Monday, September 28th at 7 pm. We were pleased and excited to see the large number of members who were able to join in and we hope this format will serve as a reasonable way to engage and interact as a guild. A large majority of guilds worldwide are using this same venue so there is much to learn and no doubt tips to be gathered on how to make it work better for us, but we felt we got off to a pretty good start! 

We would also like to welcome Charla back to the guild fold and as well, welcome new members Bev and Millie!

The pandemic certainly offers many challenges, but on the positive side, it offers those who live outside the immediate Moncton area the opportunity to join the guild. It was also mentioned that not having to drive any distance will be especially welcoming during the cold winter months! Our fees are pro-rated at this time so reach out (monctonmqg@gmail.com)if you are interested in becoming a member.

If anyone who missed the meeting had issues signing in, please let us know so we can help you fix that for the next meeting.

Topics covered:

• Hospice Quilts Update - *see Giselle's report below  We received a number of donations of tops, backing and some finished quilts from Sharon Hamilton, Carol Davison and Pat Hume - all non-members but quilters in the community. Janet LeBlanc graciously donated a lovely sum of money from mask making to assist in purchasing batting and backings just when it was needed most so many thanks to Janet!  And many thanks to both Sharon, Carol and Pat for their very generous donations! The Hospice will be well stocked with beautiful quilts to keep the patients and their families cosy thanks to your assistance with our project.
• Also many thanks to Carol, Millie and Kim for volunteering to assist in working toward completing these quilts with quilting, labelling and stitching.
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow Challenge  - Maryse reported that they may still be missing 3 sets of blocks. If they don't have your blue, indigo and violet blocks yet, please connect with Maryse or Annette about getting those delivered to them so they can finish making sets and get them out to the participants.
• Poppyprint Workshop - Very popular workshop with 10 of our members signed up as well as quilters from across ON, BC, Scotland and the US. There is a waiting list and yesterday there was a flurry of inquiries. Supply lists went out last week. Class notes and Zoom invitations went out this morning.
• A virtual workshop with Cheryl Arkison on Saturday, Nov 28th - Make Words Not War. Cheryl's website. We discussed hosting this as well as purchasing a Zoom account and Debbie MacDonald will look into other webinar avenues available. Noted that virtual workshops will be the new normal for quilting instructors going forward. They have much more access to remote areas and small guilds like our own without the guilds incurring travel, accommodation and food costs to bring the instructor in. Consequently guilds can charge lower registration fees and the instructors can choose get to teach more often so it's a win-win for everyone. 
• Block Lotto - We discussed reviving the program but no decisions made as yet. If anyone is interested in taking this on, please reach out to Carol or Jennifer.
• Carol asked for volunteers to help run various areas of the guild and acknowledged that if not for the pandemic, elections would have been called. All help is welcome! Charla volunteered to run a virtual show and share on our various social media sites. She will be reaching out to gather photos of work we would like to share and posting them so please support her and send in your photos!
• Discussion about Round Robins/Row by Rows - Yippee! Another volunteer! Deb Crosby and Janet LeBlanc have agreed to take on organizing this project and will present at the next meeting in October.

** I did fail to mention that there are still seats available for Krista's Lecture, Search for Signature Style on Sunday, October 18th at 1 pm AST. This is an hour long lecture and tickets can be purchased by e-transferring 10.00 to monctonmqg@gmail.com

If I missed anything or anyone, my apologies. Please reach out and I will rectify that.

HOSPICE QUILT PROJECT (Update Sept 30, 2020)

1. a)  Quilts completed - 25

2. b)  Blocks signed out for assembly (Maryse, Lise, Deb C and Darline) - 4

3. c)  Tops to be assembled (2x French Braid and one from Sharon) - 3

4. d)  Tops ready for quilting: 

5.       50x58 (Sharon) 

6.       50x60 (Sharon) 

7.       54x60 (Sharon) 

8.       66x70 (Pat Hume) 

9.       70x82 (Sharon) 

10.       98x108 (Sharon)  - 6

11. e)  Bed runners to repurpose (donated by Sharon) - 4

12. f)  Jennifer  - 7 to be quilted

TOTAL = 48