I recently started a quilting "guild" in our small town. We call it a circle because we are very relaxed. However, I could use some ideas for our meetings. I did do a search and found a list but I need a ton more ideas.
Thanks
wendy

You could always do a "shoebox club". Each person takes a shoebox and fills it with the fabric they want to use (main fabric 1 yard, coordinating fabrics FQ, 1/2 yard, etc. At the meeting, the boxes are exchanged and someone takes your box home. They make a block for you out of your fabric (ours does 12 1/2 inch unfinished blocks). Next month, you have show and tell and then the boxes are exchanged again. At the end of 9 months or a year, you have all the blocks you need for a quilt. Lynn

That is a GREAT idea!

At our guild meeting we are having an UGLIES night. Everyone bring any amount of what they think is ugly or just fabric they don't want to use anymore. Then it's like a grab bag--drawing for #'s with the highest # getting the last pick.
We are also doing a block of the month. Through out the year each member brings a 12" finished block in a set color scheme (ie pastels, black and whites). Then shares the name of the block with the other members. At the end of the year this will be put into a sampler quilt for charity.
Good luck with your circle of quilting friends

You could have a show and tell of quilts or projects that each member would be willing to teach the others to do. Then you could hold mini workshops. It would be a way to help each other learn new things. Maybe someone made a great quilted vest or jacket or a purse or tote. Someone who is good at binding or paperpiecing etc. could share their skills. The guild I have been with the longest started out in someone's home. We did things like that for years. Now with over 100 members we can afford to hire professionals to teach and demonstrate. There is always BOM. If you do it for a year everyone should learn how to make at least 12 different blocks.

these are all very good ideas. good luck

I co-founded our local guild seven years ago and know that at the beginning it is sometimes hard to come up with ideas. Here are a few we used:

Have a secret sister program with members drawing names and committing to doing some small something once a month (card, candy bar, fat quarter, etc.) for their sister and then at your Christmas meeting reveal yourselves to each other. We set a dollar limit from the start on what could be spent per month and at Christmas.

Ask for volunteers to demonstrate a technique at the meeting or teach a class. Depending on the size of your group, you can limit it to a quilting technique or incorporate something different such as crochet or making a purse.

Have a fat quarter lotto - each member who brings a fat quarter gets a chance (one per fat quarter) to win them all.

We always have held a show and tell, usually at the end of the meeting so the members would stay!, so everyone could have an opportunity to share their works of art.

Good luck. This is a wonderful opportunity. We started out as a small group and still have less than 20 full time members. We live in a small community and over the years have changed meeting days, times, whatever it took to accommodate the majority.

WOW! Thanks everyone. Great ideas and I will give them a try!! It is hard to think of different activities that appeal to everyone. Thanks again. I am always open to new ideas.

I belong to a small guild (38 members and growing), and we just had out 2nd birthday. Money is always an issue (as in we don't have much), so we try to make it interesting without a large price tag.

One meeting each year is our Women's Health Issues meeting. The first year, we had someone from the American Heart Association come and speak about healthy heart issues. This year, we are having a nutritionist from one of the local hospitals come and talk about diabetes. The speakers don't charge anything, but we make a small wall hanging (15" or so) as a thank you.

Our first October, we had a "fashion" show with a faux catwalk and those who wanted to wore an apron they had made or inherited from someone. The next October, in preparation for the Quilt Festival (we are just north of Houston), we had a tote challenge and those who participated showed the tote they planned to carry to the Festival.

I don't belong to our local guild but my mom is very active in hers...I know they always have a charity quilt for a different organization in progress...quilt for kids, breast cancer, quilts of valor, etc., they have alot of instruction from members teaching different techniques, they raffle off quilts to make money, they do alot of the same types of things that are on this board. :)