ideas for quilt meetings
 

I am on our planning committee for next years quilt quild. Looking for suggestions to do at meetings. What do you do at your meetings that doesn't cost a fortune. Thanks.

Have a 50/50 draw each week. Sell tickets and the incoming proceeds are divided into 50% for the guild and 50% to winner.

Check with state and local museums. There may be a textile section with a person who can come talk about history of quilts or textiles in the state.

Utilize talent within the guild. For example do you have any members who are longarmers that can give a talk, or someone who is a real pro at needle turn applique or EQ or something like that. Is there a certified quilt appraiser or judge in your group that can give a talk? Do you have any members that can do a "trunk show"? Survey the guild to find out what they are interested in. The guild I used to belong to was very large and we only brought in a "big name" a few times a year and those were always in conjunction with a workshop that members paid an additional fee to attend so I don't know if that helped to subsidize the cost of the trunk show or talk (I strongly suspect it did). Additionally not every meeting needs to have a speaker. Sometimes we just discussed the usual guild business, like an upcoming show or bus trip, the minutes, the treasurers report then show and tell.

Get to know your quilters..a 10-15 min. show and tell the story of your quilting journey. Some quilters are very well know for their beautiful work...but there are some quilters that have a wonderful heart, not great quilters but have a great story and they are on that quilting journey.

We had a night where everyone was asked to bring in one of their first quilts for show and tell. That was fun , the stories were great. I agree, call on your members . We have had member trunk shows, a judge did a presentation and "judged" a few member quilts. Ask if members know people who would be willing to come and show what they do. We had a presentation on Korean quilting and eco fabric dyeing this year.

If there is a break period, ask any new members to gather in one spot with a few established members who will take them on as mentors to the guild. Speaking as a new member, it is very hard to break into the cliques that exist in guilds without some sort of introduction.

Watson

We always have members do short demonstrations of a technique (sewing the binding ends together at the correct length with a diagonal seam, hand applique, accurate rotary cutting, for example), small project (stained glass wall hanging, scenic wall hanging, etc.) and those are always appreciated.

We've had UFO auctions: sales night (whoever wants can purchase a table for $10 and sell quilting related items): Quilts of Valor distribution with color guard and receipients present.

we did a fun activity last winter--one member, using a video camera, went to 3-4 members houses and filmed their quilting spaces, showing how they stored their fabrics, design walls, etc. It was really fun--two of our members really had the stash!

We also do a block of the month, where members bring one for charity and one for a member raffle (each block you make equals one raffle chance). Our charity quilts go to the county cancer foundation for clients and to anyone in the county dealing with fire, flood, etc.

We do a survey to find out what people are interested in learning and what they may be interested in "teaching" (give an option of "with others"--sometime people have wonderful skills but are shy about leading others). Also, if you have a LQS, check with the owner to see if he/she would be interested in giving a program on fabric--I found it interesting to know when fabric for holidays, seasons, etc gets ordered, how to deal with fabric bleeding, etc. and new products coming out.

We play quilt trivia. For prizes, we pick out three charm squares that people donate. It's a fun way to get everyone talking and laughing.

We had a fun meeting when members were encouraged to bring in their favorite "quilting tool" and tell the rest of the members about it. It was really good to see and hear about tools maybe used in a different way than intended. Or new tools you had thought of but didn't have. The tool could be either a real quilting tool or something not generally thought of as a quilting tool. We had a great time.
And I agree about asking LQS owners if they would like to come and do a presentation. The ones we have had are allowed to bring items/fabric for sale especially if they talk about a new quilting tool or ruler. One shop owner demonstrated a way to make 2 color bindings, gave us all a handout and was a great speaker.

This is an excellent question! Is it possible to save this thread? I love all the ideas here and will undoubtedly want to refer back to it.

RGAY, when I want to save a particular post, i blog it. go to any posting you like, or the first post, on the bottom left, hit Blog This Post... it appears in the blog as a quote of that first post. before hitting enter, paste a link to the thread or any other words you want to keep.

Not my idea, but we have done this a couple times. Everyone brings a greeting card they like, because of color, theme, design etc. We put in a small brown paper bag ,then trade them. We then make "something" that represents the card. It is fun to see what people come up with, bags, wall hangings, potholders. Also we exchange, " what was I thinking" (ugly) fabric. Usually a yard of it, also in a brown bag. Each recipient makes something. This was fun too. The dice game CLR is fun, we each bring 3 predetermined fabrics, either theme,ie Halloween, Christmas, or size 2 1/2 inch wof, charms etc and use instead of coins.

The fabric gambling sounds like a blast

This may require a license from you state authorities. A non-quilting organization I am part of had to make sure all paper work was filed to be designated as a non-profit organization and there are monthly income and disbursement of funds. It can vary from state to state. Worth checking out because this is an easy "fund raiser".

Our guild is about 50 participating members, and we sometimes do the "strip poker" game, bring in favorite tools, have demos (5 or 6 ladies each do 1 item and we rotate the group of 8 or 10 onlookers to each station). I have enjoyed our UFO challenge, we each made a list of 6 UFOs (a copy for us and a copy for the president) and then numbers 1-6 were put in a hat. The number drawn out was to be finished in 2 months and brought to the meeting that month. We drew a new number that month for 2 months away. FIrst time we did this we didn't know the plan, and some listed things they would probably never complete in that time line. Second year we were savvy and listed things we really wanted to finish! We have had a "color the block" contest, different block printed up each month and if you colored it your name went in a drawing for a fat quarter. If you made the block (multiples were accepted) you put your name in a drawing for a 1/4 yard. We are having our quilt show soon, so a contest was set up to bring a pincushion that could be donated to the boutique table and a winner would be chosen for a gift card prize. Lots of different things work, think charity quilts, baby quilts, QofV, all can be "judged" and the winner gets a prize.

I really like this idea - tried 2 different quilts and felt very much on the outside. At break time everyone gathered into their little groups, which I understand, but I felt left out. Tried going back a second time and same thing happened, and didn't try a third. It is hard for a newcomer, at least me, to go up to a group and try to participate. I felt like I was really intruding when I tried that. But to have a designated group for newcomers and people to talk with - I would have loved that!

Two or three veteran members should be assigned to one new member so they feel included. That’s what happened to us when we spent a month in a campground in AZ. We walked into a Bingo hall full of unfamiliar faces. Two people left their friends and met us at the door. They sat with us, showed us the ropes and answered any questions we may have had. Not just the first night either. We became good friends and still keep in contact.

We just had a Christmas in July program. We had 3 members do a demo on a quick gift idea. The guild members took a color strip when they signed in to the meeting. This divides the members into groups to visit the 3 stations at the same time. Yellow group goes to 1 table to view the demo and other 2 colors go to their matching color tables. After 15-20 minutes at 1 demo, the groups rotate until they have all seen the 3 demos. Its fun and you get to talk to members you may not have had a chance to get to know.

A lot of our guild members are gone for the summer, so last year we had a "get to know your fellow quilter" at our first meeting in the fall after most everyone was back. We were each told to bring in something that represented what we had done that summer. One gal had gone on a trip to Alaska, so she brought in some fabric with items found in Alaska on them, another had gone to a wedding, so she brought in some memento from the wedding, one gal brought in a piece of lumber. She had worked on a Quilter's Lumberyard patter during the summer. We all put what we had brought on a table and each piece was assigned a number. Then we were all given papers and tried to figure out which item belonged to which guild member. There was a prize for the person getting the most right. It was really fun and got everyone to talking to each other.

We have two meetings each month. The first is our business meeting and after the meeting we have a "sewcial" where we bring our machines and work on whatever we want. Sometimes one of our members teaches a class of something that people want to learn. The second meeting is usually some sort of program, trunk show, or class taught by someone outside the guild.

left out also
 

I felt just like you last week. We are moving to a new town in a year. I joined the local quilt guild at their show and attended my first meeting last week. No one greeted me but I am former military spouse, so have never met a stranger. Introduced myself and asked the membership/sign in person what I should do. She got me signed in and then said, go join a group and introduce myself. That did not work, so went into the meeting area and found a seat. Introduced myself to the two ladies on the row, they were pleasant but not welcoming. After the initial "my name is" stuff the meeting started.

Flash back two years ago. There had been some complaints that my current guild was not welcoming. I decided to make it my mission to greet every new person. I did that at each meeting and then found them a guild member to sit with and introduced the new person all around. Now I am the guild president and I still personally welcome all new members and chit chat with them. I also introduce myself to people who attend guild that I do not recognize. Sometimes they are old members who are just coming back or someone who rarely comes, rarely are they a friend, but at my age my mind is slipping. Our guild has 170 members so I guess I can lighten up on myself. Anyway, I will continue to attend the guild before we permanently relocate to Tyler, Tx. It is the only game in town and we have bought our retirement home.

I am a member of three guilds. My first time ever going to guild meeting they asked for volunteers to help with a committee. I raised my hand. That's all it took. If you are new then raise your hand and offer your help. You will be a known by name member in no time.

I like onebyone's answer. Great idea. Every guild is looking for volunteers of some kind. I'm sure you will be more then welcome!

Block of the Month? See who's willing to teach a workshop on guild day, or share family quilts and give a talk.

We have FatQtr Stack (about 5) tied with a ribbon, and when everyone is signed in they draw a number out of the jar and that person wins.

Look into your local historical society.