the guild in our church has been tring to come up with a fund raiser for our church i talked to our priest about a week ago than have talked to a few of the guild members i suggested a quilt show boy i din't know what i was going to get myself into i was asked if i would help to orginize it and could this be an anual event i said it could be i have been tryiung to think of how to put my skills togeter to help in the sevice of god and my church we are in a small town and our priest severs three church so i think we could combine all the church inon this my question is if you could enter a quilt in a charitable event shuch as this would prizes won't be as much as big events and shows but i know i would anthing to help god what do you all think

Are there many quilters/sewers in the surrounding community (besides those of you in the guild)?

If not... then you might have trouble getting anyone other than guild members to come to the show.

But if there ARE a lot of sewers/quilters... perhaps you could do raffles or silent auctions on supplies. Like, maybe, raid your collective stashes and everybody brings in four FQ's that they can bear to part with, and you could re-combine them into, say, groups of 8 that are related, and tie 'em up with a pretty ribbon.

You just KNOW that everybody else's scraps are more interesting than your own... :-)

I love quilt shows that have chinese auctions, and ones that have gently used quilt magazines and books for sale that were donated by members. quilt shows are a lot of work, get plenty of help, especially with set up and take down. You can also see if u can get local companies to advertise in your brochure, that helps with expenses.

this area has a lot of quilters and sewers in this area i have never understood why no shows we thought this could be a anual event maby put our small town on the map there is only two quilt show close by that i know of that is at the same time as the fair the oher is specific to a certian county no other quilters can show there quilts there are also 4 county fairs with in a 75 mile area alot of people enter into those events so i think we would have plenty of entries there is also 4 quilt shops in the area most so expensive i don't go ther much but maby i could get them to donnate prizes like fat quartes of shuch and give them reconition for there prize i have hops that susie would donnate lessons to one lucky winner she does that in her quilt shop she also a member of a catholic church i could play on her being a member of one of our churches we also might include other hand made cafts in ther own section any more ideas greatly appreciated

if everone dosen';t mind i will print off all the ideas to take to our next metting so i don't forget any

Not to rain on your parade but you need to check about liability insurance, for both the attendees and the quilts. This is commonly the largest expense of show. Also I would not offer prizes but have a "quilt airing." Perhaps you could combine this with some sort of other festivities, especially for children. That would draw in the community. How about a pancake breakfast that some other group in the church could organize? Also be sure to let the community know of how your guild serves the community. You might get donations of fabric or even money for batting.

I was president of a guild and we had a quilt showing as part of a community "pecanfest" in conjuction with our city government. It was very successful in that we were able to recruit neew members and sell raffle tickets to someone other than family and friends of guild members. A few of our quilt hangers were our husbands. They were very helpful.

we run our show every other yesr rsther then every year. Ia amazing how many non-quilters come to see. we have no cash prizes, just ribbons and bragging rights. You can start with as low as 15 quilts, but make it in a small hall and change locations to a bigger place as the show gets bigger. We do ours in a school where security is tight so we can sleep at night knowing our quilts are safe. Most quilters come to hang and take down their own quilts and the display racks are borowed from a nearby guild. Is a lot of work but a lot of fun. Don't take it alone. ask for help from everyone involved. Good luck.

that is a good idea maby in conjunction with what we call crazy days here in town that becomes a perrty busy time in town as there are a lot of sales going on it would help draw more people for the vendors here in town

A Quilt show is a wonderful idea. Our guild (55 members)put on a quilt show combined with a house/garden tour. At each of the seven stops, visitors got to tour the property and view the quilts many of which were hanging outside on fences, decks, gates, clothes lines etc. Each stop was a different theme, eg Christmas, Kids, Vintage etc. Our village population 5000 had 879 visitors to our show. Lunch, a quilter's boutique and the historical quilts were stops at the churches. We charged each visitor $15 and the tour took most of the day to see everything (we had more than 400 quilts and more smaller quilted items). This show and tour netted our guild more than $16000. We had bus loads attend our show and people drove from up to two hours away. It was way beyond our wildest expectations. I say, involve the community, recruit lots of help, plan early and hang the quilts. They will come.

Instead of entailing yourself in all the work involved in a quilt show, have you considered a quilt raffle? Years ago when my children were in a small, local drum and baton corps, I also took part in our fund raisers. One year I offered to make a simple patchwork quilt to raffle off. I used a lot of my stash, donated the backing (just used muslin) and the batting, made a twin-size quilt (just simple 5" squares) and tied it (at the corners and centers of each square. It looked so old-fashioned and was so cute. For several weeks we sold tickets outside grocery stores and small shopping centers (with permission, of course), held the raffle drawing at one of our band practices and a teen-age girl won. She was thrilled. We made over $350 which we thought was great. As I said, this was a long time ago and that was a lot of money then.

If you could get donations of fabric scraps, batting and backing, it need not cost anyone very much money. If you get volunteers to cut out squares (or other shapes), arrange them in a pattern and have everyone do a little sewing, you could be finished in no time. All you would need is a little time and you could make a few dollars for your church. Three churches, three groups of volunteers, three quilts, three times the profit!