I posted an invite a couple of years ago, suggesting about an area about 30 or 40 miles around where I live. I have access to a great quilting room. Our first meeting was at a quilt shop which had just moved, about 25 miles from where I live. The day went wonderfully. A few of us meet once a month at my place because I have a great quilting area.

Perhaps starting off with a meeting at a quilt shop was the clincher for us. We got to see each other before committing to anything. Now, I've got to get going and meet a couple of them at a quilt show near where they live.

My very best friends are some that I met through an online group. When we decided to meet, we met as a group in a library meeting room. That was more than 10 years ago & we are more sisters than friends now. We have laughed together, cried together & lost friends from the group to death. If one of the group is in need for anything, we come together to help. Every year we have a group picnic & even our families are close now. I've also met some pretty strange (IMHO) people from another group. I didn't mind meeting others as long as it was a public place at first - some clicked - some didn't. Now I don't obligate to meet for several reasons. I no longer drive, every time I leave home I have to load up the car with oxygen tanks, & have someone drive me & it just physically takes every thing out of me to be away from home. I can't be gone longer than 6 hours anyway, or miss a breathing treatment - the inhaler just doesn't hold me as well as the nebulizer supplied meds. I think the secret to successful meetings is to take it slow & make it public

Hugs
Shirley in Indiana

One of my closest friends was a fellow quilter I met on an online forum (not here). She was collecting the new state quarters for her granddaughter, and was hoping to swap with someone on the other side of the country (because different states were released from different mints). We started pm-ing each other, then exchanged emails and really hit it off. However, this relationship took TIME to build. We emailed each other several times a day - pictures of quilts we liked, links to patterns, etc. Really got to know each other. We discovered that we're opposites in just about everything; the kinds of movies we like, our fabric preferences, the style of quilts we like, our musical tastes, etc. We started exchanging "squishies" or packages of goodies. I learned that if I didn't like the fabric or the pattern, chances were she WOULD! Being friends with her has forced me to expand my quilting horizons, and I mean that in a good way. I started out traditional and she's more modern, but being friends has helped us to experiment and grow in our tastes and skills.

We decided to start a blog together and worked on that together for a year or so. Then one day she told me she had a motel room in Paducah, and if I could get there, I could share her room. So we finally met in April 2010 and had a blast! My turn, and I got a room in Houston earlier this month and told her if she could get there, she could share my room. Once again, we had a blast! This has been one of the most rewarding relationships I have ever had. I love my Cin!

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Don't give up on trying to meet new people. It can be very rewarding. Just take the time to grow the relationship, don't force it. Meet in neutral and fun locations, like maybe a joint LQS shopping trip followed by coffee and a scone. Good luck and have fun!

have meet 4 on board with 2 of theme 1 moved but get together to quilt on Thursdays with another a great way to meet new friends

I am a member of a board here in Australia and a few of us within a short distance arranged to meet in Sydney. It was chosen because there were plenty of things to do/see if no one else turned up. Five us said we would meet and 5 us of turned up at the appointed time and place. We had a fabulous day and I now have a lasting friendship with one of the ladies.

So I say go for it. Arrange a convenient place maybe a fabric shop so if the other does not turn up at least you have not wasted your journey.

I have online friends that I met years ago on a sewing machine repair board. :) We are still good friends we have been though a lot with each other cancer, anyersum surgery, gall bladder stuff , family stuffs out the wazoo . I would love to meet them someday. Ones in TX and one is in Mass. And they are about that far apart in personality. LOL .. I am also a loner. I prefer my own company or the company of 4 leggeds .. I can take humans in small doses and have a good time. :)

Please don't take it personal that the person doesn't want to meet you--some of us are not "people persons".
Glad to hear it put that way,Jan. I am the same way but I have always just called myself a hermit or recluse. I seem to be getting more so as I age. I just found out the home of a hermit is called a hermitage.

I have met several online friends and really enjoyed it each time. A public place is always the best idea for the first time. Some have wanted to meet again, and some I never heard from about getting together again after that. I don't think it was that either of us did anything wrong, just our paths don't naturally cross and other things get/got in the way of meeting up again.

Well I haven't met anybody on this board but this sure has been an interesting discussion. Many people like the amininoty of a chat room. Speaking of chat rooms I keep forgetting we have one on this board. I have never used it. But like the others have posted the QB member was hopefully just shy!

meeing
 

wish i lived near you i tried that too & it didn't work I would love to meet someone who lives near me & loves to quilt Happy Thanksgiving

Like May, I thought it would be fun to meet fellow QB members when I travel and arranged to meet someone at one of my destination spots. We had a wonderful visit, shared lunch and went our separate ways. I guess you could say our lives joined here but not so much on land. As much as I think it would be fun to make some friends through the board, time and distance seem like big hurdles.

I've loved the stories here of friendships made. I met my husband on-line, so know how rewarding relationships can start through the printed word.

I was PM'd by someone on the board asking if we could email and text. We did that for about a year or so and then I was heading west to within 5 hours of her home. We arranged to meet where I was. Lots of room and beds, and had a blast for 4 days talking, quilting and sharing our lives. It was great, We're doing it again next summer time and God permitting and my DH likes her as do my DDs. I have met a couple of others from this board too but I am mostly an introvert and happy with my own company. I also do not like meeting new people although I can fake it so well that mostly others have no clue.

My advice is just don't push it and perhaps she'll come around and perhaps not but keep trying.
My two cents, Chris

Some of my best friends are people I have met via some sort of online chat room. It took a lot of guts to go meet strangers, even though I had been talking to them for months. That was when I really wanted more social activities. Now I don't have as much time and now, I am also not proud of the way I look. I feel uncomfortable even around people I know. So the chances that I would go to meet someone from here is pretty low.

But having said that, I have met a few fine ladies from here at a quilt show and once over at a friend's house when some of the gals she knew from here showed up.

Hey Mrs Tracy Fear,
If you're ever in my neighborhood, I'll meet you and not be scared at all!
Darlene

Well.. Tracy.. you know my thoughts on this situation already.. I will just add to the list of .. I'm antisocial beyond belief, socially agoraphobic, high anxiety panic attacks, etc. etc. That said.. I prefer meeting people online. I like to chat online, and I've been doing it 20 years. Over 20 years you start to "read" people online rather well. Yea some are better at being deceptive, but I don't think I've ever been truly surprised. So, after a time of talking where I feel like.. I can trust them enough to not go psycho in a public place.. then I will meet in a public place. I feel like I already know them and already comfortable talking to them. But if someone just approached me and was like.. hey let's meet.. even in public.. I would be like no. *I* KNOW this is not the case for this situation but I also think that would be rather evident if that was the case. hehe.

I have pretty much met all of my friends online.. my ex husband.. my future husband.. and it's my preferred method of meeting people. I don't do general public well at all. And I am also one of those.. fake it real well people. Right now I'm faking it at my job.. haha. I have to interact right now because I'm in training.. once I'm on my own they will probably be surprised to hear me speak once a day. I don't like being known.. I don't like attention drawn to myself. Again, I know this is not the case for this situation. And I know you do as well.

I would love to meet anyone in the twin cities, MN area.. so would my mom. So.. hit me up :D *post hijack* hehehe. Love you BAMF! I'll meet you. soon as I find a reason to get down there.

Ok I think you have to simply chalk it up to the fact it had nothing to do with you. She simply changed her mind and didnt know how to say it. I met my hubby online, craigslist actually. He said he was just looking for someone to go to lunch with or a movie sometime. We celebrate our 8 yr this January. I love quilting no quilting store near here not really anyway to make quilter friends unless I was in a quilt chat. I love the people I have met here. I chat with a couple by phone weekly and another daily in email. In a 'real' world you won't like everyone you meet, you will change your opinion of someone you know at some point in the relationship, in a good way or a negative way but things change. Its ok. There are just as many who are interested in making and meeting new friends. You will find them with time.

I met an online friend at a quilt show. Knew she didn't feel the connection when she suggested we split and look at different things. Hurt my feelings a tad, but guess i was the only one having fun. Thanked her and moved on.

I'll meet any online quilter I have been emailing or chatting with. I have no fear of one being a loon or crazy. We always meet first in a public place. I have sense enough to say I don't feel comfortable with you so I'm leaving. I've only had to do that once. She brought her DH who was loud, obnoxious, and too flirty for me to tolerate.

I have met many other online pals and they have all been super! It never occurred to me to take my DH with me to meet another quilter. He would be bored to death especially if we decided to go to the quilt shop after meeting.

I have met a few ladies from the board. It wasn't uncomfortable for me......

That's a darn shame, I met someone on this board who was from Michigan but also lives part of the year in Jacksonville. She wanted to know of a quilt group she could join near her home. It so happens we meet at the library not far from where she lived. We (our group) have her company and still do weekly. She has taught us so much and believe we have also taughter her some things but most of all its a great social period for all of us. Thanks Kathi...

How do you make friends in chat? Most seem to have conversations already in progress.

I have experinced this but what can I say I did met an quilter years ago in a chat room talked for about 3 years sent pictures called each other all the time well need to say she lives in Calif I live in MIch had a cheep air flight and went to met her in person omg that was the best trip I ever had she was like a sister I didnt have yes I stayed at her home and I wasnt scared to go all this way I felt as I known her a life time and we still talk and have a wonderful conversation I would be lost with this long distance friend rest my case

I have the problem with chat that I can't follow any conversation! Way too much for me so I can't do it.

I dont have a problem meetng strangers. They're only strangers till i say hi. All of my good friends were once a stranger. They tell me to beware of strangers. Ive met people from the board and we get together all the time. Keep on trying.

I seem to talk to everyone, about whatever the store im in. Im met all my friends thru online or jabbering away on lines to pay. You find out if you have something in common with them if you're in a craft store. Im very outgoing, so its easy for me. When i was younger, i used to be shy. No one believes me, but its true.

i've met with members from the board and it's quite fun. one quilter is an hour and a half away, but we have a whole lot of fun when we get together! so i try to get there about once a week. it's good for both of us. she knows some other quilters in her area and we try to get them to come over, too. sue has a bunch of machines and a great styudio and it's a party just waiting to happen!
sometimes it's just a matter of timing. i was invited to a quilter's home and to meet her guild, but i was about to have dental surgery and didn't want to appear in front of strangers toothless. another time a younger quilter and i met at an lqs and went on to do a mini-shop hop. shortly after she had a personal disaster, and even tho' i had nothing to do with it, seeing me would bring back her heartache. you never know what factors cause hesitation, and so often they have nothing to do with you personally.

hi lynnie:
glad i didnt scare you away.
ro

How cool is that? :)

I met 2 women about 3 yrs ago from the forum. We ended up with more from the board joining us. We now meet every month, added more quilters and have our own quilting group. We're good friends and do a number of things together during the year. Keep looking --- it's worth it!