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.

My best wishes to you. It is so nice to read about a quilter who is so excited and passionate about her art.
I have been quilting for 4 years now, always was a sewer, but I took off with it just like you. I am still obsessed with it. I'm glad to here that you have a quilting guild to go to, I think that really help's alot.

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:

That's truly amazing. We all need to respect one another's choices as we all have to be talented and determined people to even under take quilting. I've been amazed at the amount of support my chapter and guild show in my hand quilting after hearing how so many were rejected. They tell me the difference is my attitude. I accept that I'm a hand quilter and a bit of an odd ball while respecting and cheering on the others. When they announced the first group project after I joined, they were all amazed when I was THE first one to sign up to participate and they looked at me said, "you do understand that this is a machine quilting project, not hand quilting, don't you?" Of course I understood it and rushed right out to buy my light weight Baby Lock Maria so I could participate however, when it came to machine quilting that beautiful mystery quilt, I couldn't do it. I had planned to machine quilt, had wound the bobbins, threaded the machine, even put the fabric in place and lowered the presser foot but no way could I put that needle into the fabric. I had to hand quilt it and I did and it was the first one ready for show and tell at the guild meeting. I believe after seeing what I had done, that 2 others opted to hand quilt theirs while the rest machine quilted theirs. I've done some machine quilting (on the charity quilts the guild requires for our privilege of membership) so I'm learning how and gaining better control with each project.

If you get the chance to do a mystery quilt or a round robin, jump right in. Both are so much fun and I love doing them. The plus of both is you'll do things you otherwise probably wouldn't have done.

awesome, have fun and learn lots of things!

Craftybear

What a wonderful experience. I'm happy for you.

That's great! I had a similar experience yesterday when I walked into my first guild meeting ever. Everybody was so welcoming and I got the sense that it's FUN to learn new stuff there.