November Meeting 2007

Annual General Meeting November 2007

 2006/2007 has again been a very busy and productive year for our Association and I have enjoyed the 12 months that I have been President.The monthly general meeting continues to provide members with the opportunity to socialize, borrow from our extensive Library enjoy interesting Guest speakers and marvel at the beautiful creations that are presented at Show and Tell
Thank you to the following members who assist in the smooth running of the meetings. Helen and the library volunteers, Ellen who ensures that we have refreshments and  organizes the catering for special events, Enid who has organised our Monthly raffles Saswati and Heather who do such a great job making sure that  you sign in and are most times the first contact for new members and guests, the ladies who so willingly jump up for show and tell and also assist out guest speakers ,Paddy continues to amaze us with her reporting of show and tell in the newsletter, despite it sometimes  being quite chaotic Thank you also to those members who assist in the setting up before  the meetings and packing up after, sometimes I get caught up with other things and magically it is all done.
The third Mon sit and sew has proven to be very popular and with the introduction of the Dear Jane project the attendance continues to increase A big thank you to Shirley Lodington who has kindly taken on the responsibility of this day as I find I can not attend as regularly as I would like due to work commitments
The 3rd Wed night meeting has a steady attendance of between 15 to 20 people and covers the cost of hall hire etc, it is my hope that the numbers will increase as we attract more working ladies who are unable to attend the day meetings
Jean Baddams and helpers have been busy making gift Quilts for the needy and a visit from two recipients from the Odyssey House programme during the year as guest speakers really bought home to us how valued these Quilts are. Thank you Jean and all members who have supported this very valuable project.
Our Guest speakers this year have been varied and interesting and in my opinion it is a very difficult job to achieve this Thank you Olga for your commitment and passion.
This year has seen us conduct our Aqipp Exhibition at Bundoora Homestead, organize a morning tea to raise funds towards the”Search for a cure” for Breast Cancer, a Quilt in with 130 people enjoying a day of friendship sewing eating and merriment and most recently the Biennial Members Exhibition.To all members who contributed to the success of all these events a big thank you for your involvement and  support
The committee strive to ensure our Association continues to achieve these outstanding results and I have enjoyed their friendship and value their commitment To Shirley ,Prue ,Saswati,Enid,Olga,Robyn,Heather,Julie, Ellen and Judy thank you all so much.
Our newsletter helps to inform members and those who are unable to attend  all meetings  as to what has happened  and what will be happening ,this is a huge job and Jacqy has excelled as our Editor Thank you Jacqy and also Lisa who makes sure that we all receive it each Month.
Again we have conducted various Skill Share days thank you to the members who have shared their talents with us
Fourteen Members attended the Auckland Quilt Show in New Zealand to view our challenge Quilts Thank you to Shirley Lodington for all the effort in organizing both the challenge and the trip
Membership continues to grow, currently we have 250 Thank you to Julie Heather and Robyn for undertaking this continually changing task.
With Christmas approaching very fast I am reminded of the lovely cake and pudding that we were able to raffle at the December meeting . Thank you to Margaret Flemming and Barb Doughty and in the same breath thank you  those who have donated prizes for  the monthly raffle and door prizes
The Year ahead promises to be as busy as this year ,again we will be taking part in the biggest Morning tea fundraising effort ,conduct hopefully another successful Quilt in and 2008 is our Biennial symposium year, please  support  the organizers of the events by becoming involved I can guarantee you will enjoy the experience.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your support enthusiasm and friendship
In closing if I have missed out on thanking anyone please accept my apologies

                                                                                             Pam

Presidents Piece November 2007

                              The A.G.M went quite well despite  not having received the number of nominations required to fill the vacant positions, Margaret Fleming conducted this part of the meeting and urged the members present to consider  nominating and I am pleased  to say  that the following people offered to become part of the committee Helen Hayes has offered to take on the role as Tresurer and Marina Holland and Judy Ballantyne have offered to become general Members,the position of Sect will be sorted out at the next committee meeting. The general meeting followed the delicious shared lunch and I would like to thank Shirley Loditon for taking over the last part of the meeting as I had to leave early to attend another engagement. In my haste to leave I forgot to mention  important information regarding the next meeting Firsly we will be having a Guest Speaker Peg Fraser who will share her passion for cross stitch and will show some of her Antique Sampler collection,we will also have a gift swap activity,if you would like to take part please bring along a Quilt/craft related item that is wrapped and with your name on it (so the recipient can thank you)it can be a hand made or a bought item but make sure it is something that you would be happy to be given($5) The star block challenge (pattern repeated in this newsletter) please note if you bring along 1 block you will receive 1 chance to win if you bring 5 blocks for example you will receive 5 chances to win etc   A new inititive by the committee is to conduct a new members Morning/Afternoon Tea. This is an opportunity for us to inform new members of the A.Q.A activities and and also for new members to ask any questions they may have ,I would like to thank Prue for offering to host the first one and it is planned at this stage to have 4 per year. Members who have joined this year have been invited to the first one . In 20 08 we will be conducting our Biennial Symposium ,this is a weekend of workshops and a dinner to be held in September at Sienna College,please consider becoming part of the organizing committee ,if you would like any further information please contact myself or Shirley Lodington. As this is the last newsletter for the year I would like to wish you all a safe and happy Chrismas and New Year  and look forward to another exciting year in 2008                                                                                      Kind Regards                                                                                  Pam