I also live to far away to join anykind of personal quilting group. I'm self taught and do most of my sewing alone.
I do have a sewing buddy that lives about 5 miles away and she gets over here once in a while and we'll sew for several days then she is working again and it might be 2 months before we get back together. When she is here 1/2 my days are taken up with helping her figure something out. But thats ok as I enjoy her company when she is here.