Happy Holiday Season from the DSMMQG!

It is so disappointing to get bad weather on the night of our meeting--freezing rain? Really?! We had to cancel the September meeting because of the wind storms, so we were determined not to cancel our last meeting of 2013.  We missed those of you who decided to stay home and stay safe (I don't blame you one bit!).

Leila led the meeting; we had a few show and tell items. Then we swapped holiday gifts.  When your turn came you could steal anyone's gift, or choose a new gift from the table.  Last year everyone was so polite, no one "stole" anything.  This year it was no holds barred! I had at least three different gifts in my hands at some point.  I thought you might like to see what some of our talented members made (I didn't get a pic of every single gift, but hopefully Melissa captured what I missed, so we will have more photos in the Flickr group (see our "Photos" tab on the menu bar above).

Eva Marie made this sassy Christmas apron:

Melissa's divided basket was extremely popular:

Sherry made quite a few of these gift card holders, and these went along with some notions and a fun book by Malka Dubrawsky:

Jill McBroom made this cute Christmas organizer, inside pic included:

Hannah (our Junior member) made this scrappy pillow, she even made use of the fancy stitches on her mom's machine:

Leila has been busy making pillow covers, she gifted one with a pillow form to Jill; these are her other three:

an embroidered mini quilt, coasters and ornaments by Emma:

And the mini quilt I made by sizing down Kate Spain's In From The Cold Pattern:

Please join us for our next meeting, at the WEST DES MOINES Public Library, Community Room, on January 16, 2014. In the meantime, have a safe and happy holiday season!

November 21st Holiday Social--and MQG Website update

First, some housekeeping from Doris, our Website Coordinator: Last night, I listened in on the MQG Webinar regarding navigating the website. About an hour and 15 minutes, really good info, and you can listen to the recording here. (It won't waste your time, I promise! I was able to set up my entire profile, join our group, follow friends and posts, all while listening and didn't lose track of where they were. The webinar answers MANY of the questions we had for Emily at our last meeting about loading photos, finding content, contributing, setting up, etc.  

Every one of our members should log in and create a profile, "join" the Des Moines MQG Group, and start interacting there. In the end it should replace our flickr discussion group. And yes, I will keep hounding you reminding you to do so until you do. ;-)

There is currently not a place for a pool of photos within our group (Many photos posted in FORUMS however), but they are releasing features in stages because it is a huge, private community with MANY subgroups, a very complicated site to build from an I.T. standpoint. Patience is key, but so is feedback. 

We need to let them know what we want! Contact them using this page and ask for what you want to see!

*housekeeping done* (Wow. I wish that phrase was literally true at my home.)

Join us at 6:30pm on Thursday the 21st of November for our Holiday Social!

Urbandale Public Library

3520 86th Street, (in Meeting Room B)

Urbandale, Iowa 50322

Bring with you:

• a nametag!
• an appetizer, a beverage or treats to share
• an item to swap for our holiday exchange (Thanksgiving, Autumn, Christmas, Winter... the holiday you choose is up to you!) Does not have to be handmade by you.  Some from last year were ornaments, pillows, a fabric bundle, a tote bag:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  (See our Flickr Group for more ideas.)

Not been to one of our meetings before? That's okay, come introduce yourself--the more the merrier!

Questions? Email dsmmqg@gmail.com or comment here.

Membership cards are here!

We now have membership cards that will allow you to get discounts at fabric stores! I will bring them to the next meeting. Emily