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!