I have a wonderful group of friends that do just this. We all used to belong to a local quilt guild and this is how we met. In a way we do lots of charity work. We all make quilts and then we have one gal that if we wish, will keep the quilts we donate. Whenever someone in the community has a catastrophic event i.e. house fire, tornado, or whatever, she will take our donations to the family in need.
We have also made KID COMFORT QUILTS for deployed armed services.
We have all become very close to each other in friendships. That is the most wonderful part. We have 12 in our group at the moment. What is so great about this is WE ALL GET ALONG AND LOVE EACH OTHER.
Here is how we work our "meetings"
1. Only 6 of us have places large enough to fit all of us with machines. So on the last Saturday of each month one of the six will host a SIT N SEW. The hostess will provide lunch and drinks. The rest of us will bring various items. I bring the morning KRISPY KREMES, another may bring a dessert or salad, and so on.
2. We have NO FORMAL RULES. We are just a bunch of friends gathering in one place to sew and have companionship.
If there is a shop hop or quilt show, we usually go as a group. We do have quilt retreats which are an absolute BLAST!
I can honestly say I will probably never join another guild. But I refuse to give up my "sewing sisters". My gals are a very special kind of group and I do believe I would not be as passionate about sewing without them.
I so hope you can bring a group together and have as much fun as us. GOOD LUCK!