Originally Posted by greensleeves
I love my guild. Meetings are once a week, business meeting once a month with show and tell. The rest of the time will be classes, charity quilting, or just doing your own thing which always includes lots of chitchat. We have hand and machine quilters as well as art quilters. Its nice to have the diversity. You should give a guild a try, some like them, some don't.
This sounds like the guild I belong to here in FL. Officially we have over 300 members, but of course not all come at the same time, especially since much of our population is seasonal.
I prefer smaller groups, too, but found that smaller groups exist in the large group......we always sit with the same circle of friends, chit chat, go to lunch after, etc. Plus there are special interest groups....art quilts, miniatures, EQ, applique....and some of those meet at other times of the week.
This is the first guild I've belonged to, but one one the benefits is free workshops taught by the more experienced quilters. And several times a year we have nationally known quilters/teachers come for workshops and lectures.
You might want to give membership in a guild a try. If you don't like it, try another one, or not. At least you'll know for yourself what's good for you.
Good luck and Merry Christmas!
Karen