Looking for ideas!
 

I am looking for ideas that will help us to spice up our Guild meetings and activities. We are a small rural group. Our members range from very experienced to barely beginning. We charge only $5 a year for dues, that does not even afford us having speakers or classes. What does your group do? We have ladies who do very little quilting anymore, but wouldn't miss a meeting if they had two broken legs, and then we have ladies who are serious about their quilting and want to learn more. Got any ideas???

Do you have time for sewing when you all get together or more of a chat and coffee time with show and tell?

They rush out like they have someplace else to go. The older ladies wouldn't miss the meeting for anything, but they don't quilt, so they don't bring anything for show and tell, and they don't want demos. Very much at a loss.

Last year at our xmas party, we all brought a hand made Pot holder and you got a number at the door and gave your potholder. they were all laid out on the table and we were then called by our number and went up and picked on out. that was fun.

Sounds like a diverse group - so don't stress too much about pleasing everyone all the time. There was recently a post on QB about ideas for guild activities with lots of good ideas - take a look at that. if your space is large enough you could have a demo table/station set up and those who aren't interested can gravitate towards the coffee/treats table to socialize during that time.

Could you get some of the older ladies who don't quilt much anymore to bring in things they quilted in the past and discuss how they were made and the challenges they faced, working with the tools that were available to them then? Get them talking about how quilting has changed and perhaps they might get interested in quilting again?

Also, you might be able to arrange some group trips to quilt shops, fabric stores, antique marts (they sometimes have old quilts for sale), etc. Not everyone would want to go, and there might be a charge for those who do, but at least you would be offering some sort of quilt-related activity to get the group together.

What about some of these ideas from a previous post?
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...ml#post7332849

Your guild sounds somewhat like the one I belong to, but we have grown enough that there is always at least a small show and tell - although often by the same people from month to month.

We have a business meeting, followed by show and tell, and then a short program.

We have surveyed members, most recently at the June end of year Ice Cream Social, as to what they would like. Member trunk shows was a very popular response this past year; maybe you could work that in with Dunster's suggestion for those members who are no longer actively quilting? (I LOVE the idea of having them do a little presentation!) Make sure that they know it doesn't need to be lengthy and perhaps some younger members could help them with transporting and holding things up?

We do a Saturday Sew-In once a month, no charge. In the past, folks have been asked to bring a dish to pass, but due to dietary restrictions, this fall we are going to try having everyone bring their own bag lunch. Anywhere from 6 to 12 people come; it's nice to get to know some of the members a bit better.

Each year for Christmas, we provide a small gift bag for each resident of a local senior housing complex; many of them no longer have visitors or family who give them gifts. Gifts can be homemade or purchased, with popular items being calendars, note pads, pens, puzzle books (large print), place mat or mug rug, hand soap, lotion. We also "adopt" families from a safe home for abused women/children and provide holiday gifts for them. The list is put out and people can check off what they will contribute. These are both optional. We collect for the senior center in November to give their staff time to sort through and make sure each resident is getting something appropriate, then the safe house family/families in December; this also spreads the commitment for our members out a bit.

After the holidays last year, we (program committee) presented a "Letter P" challenge. Each member who wanted to was asked to make something that began with the letter "P" to exchange at our June meeting. Pot holders, placemats, pillows, pillowcases, purses, pink or purple just about anything, a patchwork item .... The "P" part was very lenient as to interpretation. Members really enjoyed it.

This year, we will be doing a paint chip challenge after the holidays. Members will draw a paint chip from a bag and be asked to make something, large or small, using that color.

We gave each member an index card at the beginning of the year and asked them to put their name and 3 things members would not know about them on it. At each meeting, we select a few and read the clues to see if anyone can guess who it is.

We've also started asking folks who bring show and tell to stand up with the item (we'll help as needed for larger things) and tell their name as well as anything they'd like to say - when it was started, who it is for, what they enjoyed-or didn't- about making it, etc. It's another way to help people who are name-challenged (like me...) get to know more people.

Good luck!

Maybe you could offer classes with a small charge for those who want to learn new skills. Maybe the older ladies who don't quilt anymore could offer their skills to the newer quilters wanting to learn.
Sue

This is just my impression, but I've seen it happen, but if you're not careful you'll lose the quilters that want to learn and participate because of the ladies who want to come and chat with each other about non quilting subjects.
I would make a motion to raise the dues to 15.00 a month so that you can afford some good teachers and have some good programs. In the mean time, the other suggestions are terrific ones to keep the quilters going. You may find that the non quilters may move on, but it's better that way than losing your ladies who want to quilt.