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 am so very happy for you! It sounds like a great experience & I hope you will continue attending the Guild Meetings. I need to check into the Guild here myself. Haven't been but to one meeting & that was about 7 yrs ago. I hope your sewing lesson will be just as positive for you and you will enjoy it also. Let us know how it went.

Hey, don't ever feel intimidated!! Everyone has their own style. Not everyone will do things in a certain way. Some machine quilt, others hand quilt or tie. Just remember this is your creation and do it the way you feel most comfortable with!! The most important thing is that you enjoy it and the love that's attached to it!!

Good Luck and welcome to quilting!!

I'm glad your experience was a good one. Mine was too! I have been a member for a year now and am on the membership committee this year as well.

You will learn a lot there, so jump in and have some fun!

I am so glad you liked it! A guild helps to keep you focused and motivated, I am one of the ones that is all in favor of guilds, (without the petty drama that sometimes happens).

I'm sew glad that you had such a positive experience. I was reading the posts last night about all the horror stories & politics with guilds. I've thought about joining a guild, I just have to find the time and make myself commit to a set day and time to meet.(That's something that I don't usually do). Enjoy your guild and keep us posted on your experiences.

So glad to hear this ... I need to get involved in the local guild but I'm too nervous about it at this point ...

I'm Pres. this year for a guild in Memphis, TN. We love new quilters! We have over 100 members and we have hand quilters, machine quilters and long arm quilters. We welcome everyone! It's so much fun. We meet once a month at night because we are a "working girl's" guild. But of course many of our members are retired now. We also have a board retreat in June and a guild retreat in November. We have a blast and there is always something for everyone. I strongly encourage everyone to join a guild. Your money as a group goes a long way to bringing in National teachers etc and you learn so much. AND it's great to have other people with your obsession!
Check it out at www.ucquilts.com

Enjoy your class! You can't be any more nervous than I was; my hands shook so much, I could barely thread a needle. Once I "realized" the class wasn't a contest to see who could finish the quilt that night (boy, was I new to quilting!), I started to enjoy myself. But, I continue to be amazed at how fast some quilters can sew!! And the talent!! So, I've decided to sit back, do the best I can, and learn from those around me. Quilting groups really are a marvelous environment.

I'm glad you had a good experience with your first guild meeting. They have a lot to offer and you will just have to ignore any snide remarks you may get from some of the members. While I am a died in the wool handquilter I do machine quilt my children's items and Linus etc. I belong to two large guilds. Both of them have several semi to professional long armers as members. Because of them the guilds are able to turn out large volumes of quilts. Both guilds hold bingos as fund raisers. Members will contribute up to 50 small quilts as Bingo prizes as well as lots of items for doorprizes etc. That much production would not be possible without machine quilters. It takes me at minium six weeks to quilt a bed size quilt. A good longarmer or even home machine quilter can turn out at least a dozen quilts in that time period. If you have a chance to attend any large quilt shows you will discover that machine quilting reigns.
You can learn a lot from a guild that is able to provide speakers, workshops etc. Enjoy!

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.