Supposedly, there was a husband of one of the female members who was "objectionable" during their meetings. Exactly how, I don't know, but apparently he caused a stir in some form and wasn't even a quilter himself - he just came for the free food each month. So in 1991 they wrote into the bylaws that men were excluded from the guild. Rather than deal with the problem person, they excluded an entire gender from membership.

Here are the people in that guild that I have spoken with to date about it, and their response:

1. Vice President of the guild - Summer 2009 - She said that she would take the issue up with the guild so that it could be changed. Said it might take "a while".
2. Owner of a LQS who is a member - Summer 2009 - She said that they would bring it up in the guild meeting to get it changed.
3. Distant cousin who is a longstanding member of the guild - January 2010 - She said that she had talked with the President about it and that she wanted to see it brought up and changed.

Also, a couple of members of the guild have told me privately how sorry they are that the guild has that policy, and I could tell they were embarrassed that it was like that. But they also told me that there is an "old guard" mentality with this group, and that some of them would not only vote "No", they would vote "H*ll No!" if this were put to a vote. Oddly, a lot of these women are members of my church (which is the largest church in town), so I do wonder how they square all of this with their supposed Christianity.

Anyway, this is not a small guild, they normally have 70+ members at each meeting. But the sickness in the group runs deep, and is really indicative of what I've come to hate about living in this town. It's what I call a "forced happiness" where no one had ever even think about stepping out of "their place" or you will be quickly smacked down. It's a combination of "Peyton Place" and "Pleasantville" narrow mindedness.

Off my soapbox now...

I belong to a large guild with 90 some members, 65 attended the last meeting. We have a set of bylaws that determine in general how the guild is to be run and what we spend money on. Our treasurer heads a budget committee that attempts to predict our income for the year and determines how much money each committee will get. We pay $30 per year in dues and are expected to sell (or buy ourselves) $20 worth of opportunity quilt tickets as well. We are often asked to donate food or fabric or batting for different events or projects. Our guild spends its money on renting a hall for meetings, insurance, post office box, storage unit, monthly newsletter, fabric and supplies for opportunity quilt, BOM, and charity quilts, presenters at meetings and equipment. The person or committee in charge of each area usually decides how their allotment of money is spent, but items that may differ from past practice may be put to vote of the entire membership.

Eddie ,if you ever find your way to Tucson we will be glad to have you,we have a very large group 700 members,probably more during the winter,some that live elswhere during the summer and only come to town when its quilt show time.a few years ago we had a man as co-president with his wife
so feel free to join!
Kathy

We have a silent auction at the June meeting because we break for the summer but that money is used for the travel expenses so we can bring in some out of town speakers. We also have 2 other guilds fairly close so if the meetings are in the same week we can split travel costs.

I think you should make waves too Eddie. We have 2 men in our guild... and it's funny because it's jack & Jack... So they have lovely taken on the nick names of Jacquelin

Have you thought about starting a guild with people more open-minded and progressive? It's probably a lot harder to do than I think. I don't go to my local guild because when I first joined newcomers were not treated very well. I sat at a table with older members and was ignored. A few months later they actually introduced new members and had some gifts for them. They said they didn't have enough for all the new members, and just started throwing them into the crowd and if you wanted one you had to fight for it. I think that was my last meeting. I don't remember ever seeing a man there, wonder if they are banned. I guess I should check.

It was very hard to hear any speaker because very few people paid attention and talked through the meeting.

I do say that they do a lot for the community and are very charitable. I just wish the meetings were more enjoyable. I haven't been in over a year, and I just received a call asking for my $15.00 fee. I sew charity quilts and can donate on my own.

Eddie,
Have they SEEN your quilts? If so, they are just jealous. If not, they don't know what they are missing.

You could continue to lobby for change (only you can decide if you think it would be worthwhile). If you get the rule changed, it sounds like it will still take a lot of work to adjust their attitude. You might be better off using your time and energy to quilt!

Perhaps you and the quilters (any gender) who are embarrassed by the "old guard"'s behavior, need to start a new local guild - with fewer (bad) rules and lots more fun.

If you ever make it to Wisconsin, we meet on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, and you are VERY welcome.

Good luck. Grace

Given the hold that the "old guard" has over the guild, I don't think there would be many who would dare to also join a competitor guild. From my observations, there is a definite pecking order there. So the benefits of staying would most likely outweigh anything that could be offered by a start-up guild in the area. They have the upper hand, they know it, and are going to run things the way they want to, regardless of how right or wrong it may be to treat people like that.

Actually, they have seen my work. Back in mid-February of this year, the president of the guild called me to say that their scheduled speaker for the February meeting had to cancel and she wanted to know if I could come do a trunk show in her place. I wanted to show that I could rise above them and their discrimination, so I said yes (my wife told me what SHE would have said if she had been me, LOL!). But I went, did the trunk show, and that was the end of that. I had thought that perhaps that was the beginning of a thawing of the non-men issue, but not so. Haven't heard a word again from them.

Eddie: With the way it sounds, you might be better off starting your own guild! I bet you'll be surprised at how many members from the other guild who aren't happy end up at your meetings instead, or they'll be like me and many of my friends and belong to both guilds. ;) It's pretty easy to start a guild and only takes a handful of people. And the best part is that you are in on the ground floor, which means you can make it any way you'd like. (I see Susan B has suggested this too.)

I bet if you started your own guild and announced that men were welcome, the other guild would change their policy pretty darn quick!

As for them using you for a trunk show and then discarding you - that is just plain rude!!! I wouldn't want to belong to a group who treated people like that. At the least you should have received a thank you card. Heck, my guild would have made you an honorary member!

Ripped: Normally the money our guild makes from its Stash for Cash goes to either charity or the library. Sad that I can't remember which, but we do a special thing each year for both of them as well as the raffle quilt every other year.

Our guild is through the Country Extension Office. We are considered a "special interest group" and our dues are $12 a year. More than reasonable. We do not have officers, we vote on what we want to do and are open to suggestions from all members. If we want to learn a specific pattern, we split the cost of the instructor for the day (usually in the morning for about 3 hours). It is usually about $5 each. We meet with the guild one day a month at the extension office. We are currently having 3 or 4 UFO days a month. In addition, we take road trips periodically.

This really helps those of us who do not have room to do our cutting and sewing. Our time frame is 10:00 to 4:00 which makes it worthwhile to load up our equipment for a day of work. We are permitted to get there as early as 9:00, if we desire.

I hope they at least paid you to do the trunk show! When I am the speaker for my guild I get paid just as I do when speaking at other guilds. It is a nice source of extra money and the 14 page handouts need to be covered. I bet if you did more guild presentations you would find other guilds who would invite you to join!

Yes, I pretty much think that I wouldn't join now even if they offered it. Having seen this side of the guild, it's not attractive.

Nope, no payment to me for the trunk show. However, I took a $35 jelly roll from my stash and gave it away as a prize for a drawing at the end of my trunk show. :roll:

I belong to a small guild, 30-35 members. Our dues are $12 a year. We have a vote for what we want to do. Speakers, classes, teachers, etc. and the dates. Every Oct. we get together and make give away quilts for our local shelters, hospitals or where they are needed. We have lots of fun, show-n-tell, block const., new quilt ideas, etc. every month.

Want to come do a trunk show at my house? :lol:

Eddie,
While I've heard the term, I don't know what a "trunk show" is.
As for being denied membership in a guild, it's too bad because I've always heard that a grp. of women behave better when there are men present.

A trunk show is just when someone brings a collection of their quilts and shows and talks about each one, the fabrics and quilting used, etc. As though I brought a "trunk" of my quilts and showed them.

Eddie, thanks for the description. Sounds like fun since it's always fun to see other people's work. Of course it makes us drool & inspires us to go home & warm up the sewing machine.
I go through that in fabric stores. Can't wait til I get home.

Wow, Eddie, your just to nice. LOL, I want to hear what your WIFE wouldve told them! I agree with the others, start your own. You could really help alot of people. Your group could be the "nice" guild!

Wow, it seems I opened a can of worms with my question. Sorry about that. I agree with all of you that Eddie and all the other men who are interested in quilting should be allowed "in". Keep trying, Eddie, and pray hard for all of those "Peyton Place, Pleasantville" people.

If you would like to view an amazing trunk show, these are the pictures from the Sally Collins trunk show that was done in April at my local guild. Her permission was given to put the pictures on our web site. It gives you a good idea about what you would see at a trunk show. I really love them because you get to hear what the artist thought when they were creating the quilt. Sometimes the stories that go with a quilt are amazing and really make me view a quilt differently then I normally would, which I enjoy.

Holy buckets, Tiffany,
Those quilts make me feel like a real beginner. Such grand pcs. Thanks so much for the examples of Trunk Shows.
Pat

I am a member of that guild and wish they would allow Eddie in. He and his wife gave a wonderful trunk show a couple of months ago. Might start a petition to men in. Men can quilt as will as women and in some cases even better.

Hi, and thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it. :) I know I sound bitter throughout this thread, and I guess I am to some extent although I wish I weren't. I do want to say that there are many wonderful, warm quilters in that guild -- I met many that night and I know that not everyone wants the no-men rule to remain. But my gut feeling is that it's not going to change, even if someone does eventually actually bring it up for a vote. As I understand it, it would have to go before the guild board for consideration first before it would even be presented to the membership for a vote. So I don't think it would make it to the membership for a vote. But thank you for speaking up here in support of a repeal, that does mean a lot to me. :)

I belong to 2 quilt guilds here in Phoenix.
Actually one of them is the "Big Guild", Arizona Quilter's Guild with over 2,000 members. I also belong to one of the Chapters of AQG. (There are over 40 chapters, each has its own meeting times, dues and so on.) AQG dues are $25 a year, if you renew by deadline, and $30 if you are late. AQG hosts a yearly Quilt Show, national speakers a couple of times a year, and has 10 month schedule for the newsletter/magazine. Dues also cover insurance, and lots of other stuff.
My chapter, Busy Bees has dues of $20 a year. This helps pay for hall rent and so on.
The Phoenix Area Quilters' Association (PAQA) is the other group I belong to. It has about 40-50 members. Dues cover room rent, door prizes, speakers and so on.

Both the groups I attend are lots of fun.

Pati, in Phx

I joined my first guild in January. It is in another town, but it was a brand new guild and so I wanted to get in on the start of it instead of going to an established guild with "cliques." I was very pleased, even though I was too shy to talk to others (being the youngest quilter in attendance that first meeting.) I did volunteer to do the guild's website and volunteered to bring goodies in March and this has really made me feel committed to attending (which often is hard to work around my schedule with my kids and job).

I drove through the WORST snowstorm I had ever been in to go the the meeting in march and we had to stop about an hour early so everyone could make it home. It took me over an hour to go the normally 20 minute drive. I was praying the whole drive home and my dh was ready to come dig me out if my minivan got stuck in a snowdrift. That is how much I like my guild!

Anyway, our dues are $25.00 a year (from January to January) and $5.00 for each meeting if we don't join. We plan on using the money for classes/guest speakers. After only five months, we have around 50 members. That is pretty good. Right now, there is a core group that established this guild that "runs" the meetings. However, anyone can attend the board meeting and they encourage input. I believe that if any of these ladies wanted to step down, there would be others who would fill their roles, but I believe we are all very happy with how they conduct business.

Here is my guild's website. I would love feedback if anyone can think of something more I could add. I would also like to see other guilds' websites so that I could get more ideas. http://www.parkerpiecekeepers.com

I have no money to belong to anything, or I would take a quilt class if I did. God bless. Penny

I was feeling quite intimidated but Sally sure knows how to put people at ease. And I searched and found a few mistakes, not many, but a few, which made me feel better. I don't know if I will ever be able to approach her level of precision but I know she sure has influenced the rest of my quilting journey!

Good for you! If it doesn't work, maybe you two can get together and be the founding members for a new guild. ;)

((((hugs)))) I remember those days. If you have a local guild, often you can attend without joining, though some do charge a fee for guests. None of my local guilds do but the one I belonged to in California used too and several others have mentioned their guilds do so it might be something you want to check into. Usually guilds have small bees and that's actually where I want to point you to. Bees are wonderful because ninety percent of the time they are free and it's a great way to learn. Plus, quilters are just amazing people (usually, there are a few duds out there) and I've made friends with some incredible people that I would never have met otherwise. I really do encourage you to give them a try.

It is usually cheaper to join a guild than pay for a class. The guild often has workshops, classes and other instruction which would be covered by the single membership fee. When I started quilting in the early 1970s, I had very little money too. I found that redwork. whole cloth quilts, trapunto etc. were all reasonable and used sheets for fabric. Looking back some of my best handwork was done then. Don't overlook the tutorials online either, many are free!

I belong to a quilting guild. Our dues are $25 per year. We have a quilt show every-other year. We have an executive board which is elected by the board. For big changes, it is brought to the guild itself to vote on. We have 50-75 members. At times the count goes down as we do have many older members who no longer can get out. We have charities - kids quilts. We also have a raffle quilt yearly to make money to cover our expenses. It's a lot of fun to get out and socialize with fellow quilters. It's amazing how many things you can learn!