I have a REAL Problem with my guild and ALL THE CHARITY WORK THEY WANT YOU TO DO> I mean if I wanted to do that Much, I'd Join the Hospital Candy Stripers or something else!!! I joined for fun and Learning quilts and Fellowship/Fun!!! We already DO all this Stuff each MO for our BOM/ Robins whatever, I can't Possibly DO ANYTHING ELSE GUILD and DO MY OWN THINGS!!! I Guess I could stay home but I paid for a year and all. Ah ,Just needed to let it out, Anyone else ??? Got a Full Plate??? :?

You sound like me, IF I pay to join something (such as a quilt guild) by crackies I don't want to have to WORK!!!!! lol I wanna be able to go have fun and enjoy the time away from the kids. I don't mind doing charity WORK. I have done a TON of it in the past and still do it when time allows me to. but to be "made" or expected to do it sounds like a crock to me!
I don't know maybe I am just lazy!?

is this what quilds and leagues are all about? I am asking because I honestly don't know! I was thinking about joining our local quilting "group" because they made it sound like alot of fun but wow, now I don't know! Maybe I should just keep on trucken right at the kitchen table like I have been for the last year! lol

Oh my goodness.... I would be most upset if I felt pressured into doing charity work all the time.

Our guild does some, but it's only a small part of the guild, and there is absolutely no pressure to be involved. I do my own private "good will" things, and between that, running my household, squeezing in my own projects, and looking after our four children, I refuse to be pushed into doing anything else! LOL

Charity work can be a touchy subject, sometimes people don't feel able to stand up and say "hang on a minute, this is too much". Maybe it's time you did? You might be surprised, there may well be others who feel the same.

Charity is because you want to, not because you're forced to. We could all use a little nudge once in a while to give to a good cause but constant pressure sure would scare me off.

I am in a huge guild of over 300 people. We donate all kinds of quilts to all kinds of charities. No one is required to make a charity quilt. We have BOM's and other things going on, no one is required or pressured into doing anything. We are encouraged of course, and I have been to only 2 of our donation meetings (Dec and June) and it is so totally awesome to see all the beautiful quilts being given to representatives of various charities. We have a home for teen girls who sometimes brings a couple of the girls to see the "parade" of quilts and they are so excited when the name of their home come's up and the quilts are paraded, they pick out the one's they want for their selection and you should see their faces. It is a real special time and we hear some great stories from each of the various recipients representatives. It gets me really excited to make one that I can donate and have a goal to get at least one done per give away (2 a year min) but I am not pressured into doing it at all!!!

My guild does a lot of charity work too. It seems there is a small group of people who are positively prolific and they always come with 2 or 3 charity quilts each month! I say good for them, LOL. Yes, there is some pressure to produce. I personally do what I can when I want to. Quilting is not an inexpensive hobby and I have a lot of quilts on my list of "to-dos" for myself and family. I have only done 1 charity quilt this year. Like you, I joined the guild primarily to have fun and sisterhood with our common hobby. If it turns into work, pressure and drudgery, well, who needs that?

i can't speak for all guilds but i've never heard of one that doesn't do charity work and/or community outreach. i wouldn't join a guild that didn't have charity/outreach as part of their mission statement.

the guilds in my area do not require people participate because so many people are happy to contribute to all the charity efforts.

i'm beginning to think this guild is not for you.

this is like the 3 time you've posted about your disappointment with this guild.

Our guild has it right in their Purpose Statement:

The purposes for which this Corporation is formed are exclusively charitable, scientific, or educational and consist of the following:
A. The mission is to educate its members about the history, tradition, and culture of quilt making and its related topics.
B. To make quilted items for charities in our community and surrounding areas.
Etc

But I will say they don't do it every month. We donate at our meetings in June and December. Some give several. Those like me usually give 1 and mine are always small.

I believe and I may be wrong that most guilds do some amount of chairitable work in order to mantain their "non-profit" status. While they raise money through shows, raffles and bingos etc. they have to give away a certain percentage in order to keep the IRS off of thier case. When any group has a bank account that sees the coming and going of thousands of dollars "big brother" gets very interested. I know both of the guilds I belong to have to pay rent and have ongoing expenses for speakers, teachers etc. When you are dealing with groups as large as 100 that is a given.
I participate only in the projects I choose. If I felt pressured I would not be a member of the group. I am also willing to speak up when I get that impression.

This is true . But i'm not going to my guild this year. For some reason we are not getting the speakers that we use to get. I know it is tough out there now. but our dues went up and we were doing more chairty work than befor. Pluse the people do not seem as friendly as they use to be.

My guild does charity work, but no one is pressured to participate. We have lots of fabric donated and take one meeting a year to assemble, burp and tie quilts, but may work at our leisure on our own.
We don't have the speakers we used, but we have not raised dues in ever so long. I fear it is coming, but I do not mind and I get more out of getting together with my quilty friends then that small fee. :lol:

We also have tons of fabric donated and ladies will get together and put together "kits" with a pattern. You are encouraged to do only what you want to do. If you only want to put the top together, you can, or if you only want to quilt, or bind or any or all of the above. You just turn it back in when you are done with whatever part of the sewing you want to do. I have one that I picked up and have put the top together last weekend. I really dislike the backing fabric and the binding fabric they gave with it so I will pull from my stash. I will also donate the batting I use, since I buy it by the 40 yard roll anyway. I like to finish the whole thing and use the quilt to practice my free motion quilting.

Fortunately since we are a large guild, we get some really fantastic speakers and teachers. We have dues of $25 a year, not bad. Every other year we put on a quilt show and that is our big fundraiser. I have never worked the quilt show, it is encouraged, but not required.

Our guild meets one day a month to do charity/community projects. Anyone that want to help come to the sewdays. Some members come every month some come once or twice a year. No one is expected to come or made to feel they have to. We have members donate fabric to help with the projects when they don't want to sew them. We have a raffle quilt every two years to raise money for our guild workshops. We ask for volunteers to each make a quilt block with the provided fabric. I don't like working on charity projects all the time, I have projects of my own I want to do. I'm guild president so I don't elaborate on charity projects, just remind everyone of the days we meet to sew them.

Wow, Long arm pro.... you sure have problems with guilds! It seems like you are always unhappy with how they treat you at the meetings. I would recommend that you either find another group or just don't go!

I have helped to organize and/or been a member of at least 6 guilds in the past 20 years, and I have never had the kind of horrible experiences you post about so frequently.

This is the 1st guild that I have ever belonged to, and I am pleased with it so far. We do Project Linus quilts, but only if the person wants to. No pressure to do anything except enjoy the fellowship of each otehr. We have one meeting a month and one all day sewing session a month. Work on whatever you decide, no pressure but lots of help and advice if needed. A great bunch of women in this guild, I am happy to say.

My guild does charity work also. This past month at our meeting, we got lectured about how we were a "non profit" organization and thus we needed to do more charity quilts to keep our non profit status. Something about how much time we spent on charity stuff as opposed to how many members... I didn't really understand it all and was disappointed that they didn't elaborate or give me a chance to ask questions before going on to something else. And I have done charity stuff for them but no one ever asked me how long it took me to sew blocks, or how much money I spent on fabric, etc. :?

I belong to 4 guilds. One of them has around 100 members and does tons of charity work. Only those people that want to do charity work participate though.

In the really small guild we all work together two or three days a year and put together several quilts for our local charities. Two or three work days a year just isn't a big deal but with all of us working we get a lot done.

Guess quilt guilds are like any group, be it PTA, forums, diet groups or whatever, there are those that are great and those that are snoots. Do what you are comfortable with and no need to appologize. Each person is valuable and you should never be made to feel that you HAVE to contribute/participate in all areas.