At our December meeting, Chantal announced that she will be stepping down as Chair of our Guild for 2016. One of our founding members, Sandra, sent a very special Thank You to Chantal all the way from British Columbia!
"It was Chantal's idea to start a Modern Quilt Guild, and she used to say - at every meeting, "It's not MY quilt guild" but in a very real way it was, because it would not have existed but for her. The early meetings were when we tried to put some sort of structure to the group and Chantal became president. We opened a bank account, with Chantal fronting the membership fee at Libro, and we started keeping financial books.
In 2011, we were meeting in Chantal’s store, but were getting about 20-25 out to a meeting, and we had outgrown the space, so Chantal arranged to rent meeting space for us at the London Public Library.
We were meeting in the evenings, and parking was 2 hours, so we had to make the meetings just under that in length. Members would volunteer to do some sort of educational piece at a meeting, and of course there was show and share. Quilters are their own worst critics, but Chantal led the cheering section for everyone's work "There are no quilt police!” which was such a supportive thing to hear.
Our membership seemed to dwindle as we formalized. Several times Chantal advanced the guild money to keep us in the black. Eventually, we decided that we could not afford to pay space rental, although we had moved to a smaller room, and by spring 2012 we went back to meeting in Chantal's store.
Chantal was the source of most new members, mentioning it to those who shopped in her store. Sheilagh joined in 2013, and developed the website and we began to grow again, slowly but steadily, with members who knew about the Modern Quilt movement and were attracted to that style.
Meetings continued to involve members demonstrating something, show and share, and congruent with the Modern Quilt movement, websites related to quilting were shared.
Chantal-hosted workshops, with leading modern quilters like Kaffe and Brandon and Jackie Gering, which attracted more attention to modern quilting in London and more new guild members.
Chantal has also generously donated supplies and fabrics for many guild charity projects including the MQG Quilt and Limberlost’s Learn to Quilt group.
Please join my in thanking Chantal for everything she has done for the London Modern Quilt Guild since it’s inception- we wouldn’t be here without you."
Thank you for your kind words Sandra! We couldn't have said it better. Thank you Chantal!
"It was Chantal's idea to start a Modern Quilt Guild, and she used to say - at every meeting, "It's not MY quilt guild" but in a very real way it was, because it would not have existed but for her. The early meetings were when we tried to put some sort of structure to the group and Chantal became president. We opened a bank account, with Chantal fronting the membership fee at Libro, and we started keeping financial books.
In 2011, we were meeting in Chantal’s store, but were getting about 20-25 out to a meeting, and we had outgrown the space, so Chantal arranged to rent meeting space for us at the London Public Library.
We were meeting in the evenings, and parking was 2 hours, so we had to make the meetings just under that in length. Members would volunteer to do some sort of educational piece at a meeting, and of course there was show and share. Quilters are their own worst critics, but Chantal led the cheering section for everyone's work "There are no quilt police!” which was such a supportive thing to hear.
Our membership seemed to dwindle as we formalized. Several times Chantal advanced the guild money to keep us in the black. Eventually, we decided that we could not afford to pay space rental, although we had moved to a smaller room, and by spring 2012 we went back to meeting in Chantal's store.
Chantal was the source of most new members, mentioning it to those who shopped in her store. Sheilagh joined in 2013, and developed the website and we began to grow again, slowly but steadily, with members who knew about the Modern Quilt movement and were attracted to that style.
Meetings continued to involve members demonstrating something, show and share, and congruent with the Modern Quilt movement, websites related to quilting were shared.
Chantal-hosted workshops, with leading modern quilters like Kaffe and Brandon and Jackie Gering, which attracted more attention to modern quilting in London and more new guild members.
Chantal has also generously donated supplies and fabrics for many guild charity projects including the MQG Quilt and Limberlost’s Learn to Quilt group.
Please join my in thanking Chantal for everything she has done for the London Modern Quilt Guild since it’s inception- we wouldn’t be here without you."
Thank you for your kind words Sandra! We couldn't have said it better. Thank you Chantal!
