$12 a week seems really high.
The only group I belong to is Woodturners of Olympia. Yes, I know-different hobby though there are pros there too. We meet at a room at the Thurston County Fairgrounds once a month. Dues are $25 a year and there are great benefits like discounts at hardware stores, discounted supplies from the group itself, a lot of very talented speakers-mostly at no extra charge, a free hands-on workshop most months, the list goes on. I would expect a quilting group to be about the same in terms of membership fees and benefits. Oh, I almost forgot, no discrimination based on personal beliefs or anything else. I would think groups for any hobby, craft, or whatever wouldn't need any more than a common interest in the subject itself as a qualification to join.
This isn't the first thread I've seen here talking about the (to me) unreasonable practices of some guilds and groups. The horror stories of how people are treated by some of them are just ridiculous to me and frankly make me not even interested in trying to join any. I think I'll just stay here where it's already a given the people are decent to one another.
Rodney