I've tried to join a Guild, twice, and have had terrible luck. When I took my first quilt class years ago someone asked about Guilds. The gal teaching the class was on the Board of the local one in my area and she said we were not candidates because we were not serious quilters and no one would dare sponser us. OK. Then about 10 years ago I was invited to another local Guild, one that supposedly hated the snobbish one of the aforementioned group. That was a humiliating experience. Rudeness abounded. I was so surprised because the woman who had invited us (my Mom and I) had known us for decades and was such a lovely person. Apparently I broke some sort of etiquette by 1. sitting in a row that "belonged" to a particular group of members, and 2. winning the meeting raffle - the one the Membership Chairman said would be a nice gesture to purchase tickets for. The woman pulling the ticket actually said to the group "now doesn't that just frost you - a guest wins and probably won't appreciate the work that went into the blocks". I was mortified. I was talked into trying again the next month, supposedly my first visit was during a full moon or something along those lines. I went straight to the Membership Chairman and offered to join, pay dues, and find out about volunteering. She told me she would have to check to see if there were any openings for new members...she never came back, so I just gave up. I am a clean, well dressed, articulate person, non-threatening, congenial, team member oriented, etc so I cannot for the life of me understand the snobbishness.
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I would love to belong to a Guild. Or a small group. I am though expremely gun (or maybe seam ripper) shy.