February was a whirlwind of a month for us here at the Jersey Shore MQG. Our second quilt exhibit at the Belmar Arts Center was another great success, including a well attended, wonderful Opening Reception and an entire month of visitors at the Arts Center.

We renewed our annual membership with the worldwide Modern Quilt Guild this past month. It is important to note that when the world shut down for Covid five years ago, we were a struggling guild of twelve members. When I say struggling, I mean that membership was low and so were funds. We could barely make ends meet with rent and insurance and members were leaving, not because they weren’t happy, mostly moving and we rarely got a new member. This year we renewed our membership with an astounding forty members, including the first male member of the group. We could not be happier!! This can be attributed to a number of things including lockdown accounting for a renewed interest in sewing, the generosity of Julia and Patrick of Old Spool Sewing Studio inviting us to use their space for meetings, and most importantly the welcoming spirit of the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild. We take great pride in being a judgement free group of sewers and quilters of all levels where EVERYONE is welcomed and embraced. Congratulations to us!

We are; however, saying goodbye (not for good) to member Laura S who will be relocating to Italy!! to live and work for awhile. How exciting!! While we will miss her fun, upbeat presence at meetings all of us are equally as excited for her adventures. Laura had quite a few wips to complete before her departure..

And that’s it for February, it has been a fantastic month.