Originally Posted by grammypatty7
Originally Posted by DesertLake
Fantastic! It was scary going after hearing stories about some guilds looking down on machine quilting, which is what I am trying desperately to do. When I am home I OD on sewing during the day and cruze this board at night till I'm too tired to read or write. I haven't felt so crazy about an art form ever, and I've done a lot of different art forms throughout the years. Being only a year-old quilter with so much to learn, is intimidating for me. It was the first time I have been in a room with another quilter since i got my machine a little over a year ago. I'm estatic to have such a great guild close by. Over 50 members I think must have filled the room because dozens of quilts were shown off, projects from all the classes going on were plenty (that gave me hope I don't have to learn all the tecniques the hard way and by myself), a known designer, professional male and female quilters were amoung the members, there was a great program directer and the warmest members, all contributed to the best experience I could imagine! I have been gun shy about commiting to books, patterns, etc. but feel a boost in the other dirction now. I've made several quilts by myself, self taught, but give a LOT of credit to this board for teaching me lots! I have my very first sewing lesson tomorrow on my year-old, new machine, (I haven't been home long enough this past year to take one). Just think about how confident I will feel after tomorrow, LOL.
I live in The Villages, FL and when I moved here 4-1/2 years ago I met several hand quilters who were refused membership in quilt chapters (we have several chapters in our guild) because we aren't considered prolific enough. 2 years ago, I joined a stitching group and met a quilter who was excited to have met another quilter and invited me to join the chapter she attends. I walked in carrying the quilt I was working on at the time and sat down and started hand quilting which totally amazed them. The second meeting they asked me if I'd like to join and I asked if I could since I'm a hand quilter by choice and NOT a machine quilter. At that time, I was one of 2 hand quilters in the chapter. Since that time, we are now up to at least 7 hand quilters who now bring quilts to our weekly meetings to hand quilt on. Although I am a hand quilter, I did purchase a light weight machine to take to classes so I can participate and am in the process of learning how to do some machine quilting. It's not my thing but I'm definitely a minority in my guild. Most are machine quilters who can't fathom why we hand quilters waste so much time and energy hand quilting. Others are machine quilters due to health reasons that won't allow them to hand quilt anymore but have said they wish they can. I say, do whatever you enjoy and whatever works. So glad you had a good experience and hope you continue to enjoy your new guild and new friends. It's an awesome experience and most definitely try to join in on group projects as your time, energy and funds allow. I don't do every project with them because my family loves my quilts and they are a priority with my quilting but I do join in on 2 or 3 of the bigger projects so I can continue to learn and participate.
That was the other thing I appreciated so much about this guild group. They praised the hand sewers and made them get up and show the beautiful quilts they had on their laps (always working on them). One had been in process since 2000 and every stitch was worth every minute of her time! Stunning. I appreciate hand sewing so much and love that I'm in a group that does too. Even if I can't do it :oops: