If you are tell us what guild you belong to and why you like it??? How many members and anything else you want to share about your guild. :D

I know some of you have gotten a bum deal with some of the guilds. :
( :? :cry: :oops: :shock: :roll: :evil: :twisted: :x :oops: Let's try to be positive about the guilds not all of them are bad.

I really like mine and know that most are worth joining since many have programs, guest speakers, events and so on.
I belong to the New Braunfels Quilt Guild
Here is a link to it
http://www.newbraunfelsareaquiltguild.org/


I like it because we have neat classes, guest speakers, do charity quilts, quilts for habitat for Humanity, have a collage scholarship fund, put on a awesome quilt show every other year have a retreat, show and tell and so on. :D :D :D :D
Yesterday we had a blast. :D :D :D Many of our mebers went to the Houston Show and around 36 of us stayed behind. We played Strip Poker and used 2 1/2 inch strips to bid with I won several hands and came home with the same amount of strips that I started with. We had a great time.

Next month I am taking a class with the lady that wrote the book Gone to Texas.

We have had such speakers as Becky Goldsmith from Piece of Cake, the lady that wrote the pattern for the Mexican Star Quilt and so on.

Guess what? I belong to the San Antonio Guild. I joined while visiting the quilt show last month and attended my first meeting last Saturday. I was very impressed. A friend and I spent most of the morning and some of the afternoon moving around. We attended the demos (which cost me money) as I turned around and bought two booklets, one from "Quilt in a Day" and another "Sew Simple Pineapple" from Amazon. So far I spent two days trying to make the Disappearing 9 Patch. I am having problems with it as the measurements shown on the pattern don't add up to the size it gives. I usually do my fabric shopping at the Quilt Haus in New Braunfels as Marion is close to it.

It's a small world.

Gilla

I don't know of any guilds in my area. I might give one a try if I did.

Where do you live in Illinois??? I travel to mine about 30 miles because I want to but there are 2 in my area and will join one of the later :D

I belong to 4 guilds. Two fairly small ones and two bigger ones. One of the small guilds has just 22 members, the other small guild has maybe 30 members. The two bigger guilds have right around 100 members.

The smaller guilds don't have big name speakers but they both have some very talented members that give the occasional class. The big guilds have a big name quilter once a year or so.

All of the guilds do some charity work of one kind or another.

I highly recommend joining a guild in your area. You might even have to go for a year before people start to get to know you!

The guild I belong to has only 14 members. We are small but work well together. We do not have dues, we just put small change in a cup very month and that pays for the batting when we make a charity quilt. It is held are my church so every baby that is baptized in the church gets a quilt from us. We try to make a quilt if some one falls ill etc. Nice group of ladies. We also take turns bringing lunch. Occasionally go on road trips together. Might I add, we all have Janome machines. Some bought them after we started meeting cause they liked the ones I had etc. Marge
PS, I used to belong to a guild with 100 members but it was at night and about 30 miles away so don't do that anymore.

Send us a link to your Guild if available so we can read about it!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

I also belong to a Bee that is a spin off of my guild. We go to jabber jabber, sew and such. :D :D :D

Our membership is falling some, most of the younger women went back to work over the last year and the older members are getting less able to come. Not many middle age non working members left. We do have fun.

I belong to the Arkansas Quilt Guild, which has about 120 members. I joined back in August of this year. I'm one of the two men in the group. The other man is a retired art teacher who taught a high school quilting class for 30 years (how cool would that be!) We normally have about 45-50 members that attend the monthly meetings. I really like this group, they are a wonderful bunch of people -- very positive, cohesive group. And they run their meetings like a conductor keeps his train on time. :)

I hope to be able to join my local county quilt guild some day, but they'll have to change their bylaws first since they don't allow male members. :( Hopefully, that'll change some day.

Our local guild meets on a weekeday during the day :cry:

It struck me that if they actually wanted new and younger members, there would be meetings and workshops on Saturday. Most young women I know work outside the home and Saturday or Sunday is the only day they have for these things.

Heck, I work outside the home. There's no way for me to attend.

check other guilds in your area I travel 30 minutes and they meet on Saturday :wink:

I attended my first one as a visitor last month. I will be going back next month and probably join. I got a good tip that night just from a demo!

so Pam what was the tip share with us :!: :!: :!:

I'd love to belong to a guild so I could meet other quilters and receive all the educational and social benefits. Unfortunately, because of my work my time is so limited that I just can't see going this until I retire (when I'm 95?????)

Retire? What is this "retirement" you speak of? LOL

I belong to Flower Valley Quilting Guild. We meet the third Thursday nite at 7 pm and have a speaker or activity each month and extra classes are offered several times a year. There are near 100 members and we put on a quilt show every other year. We just had our show and had about 300 pieces on display for the weekend. It was really wonderful, with a beautiful raffle quilt as well. We are gearing up to celebrate 25 years next year. We have all ages and a token male member. I enjoy the meetings and look forward to getting together with the members. We also have activities on the remaining Thursdays for those who are interested. :lol:

Hi Guys!
I just went to my first quild meeting last Thursday night. Northwest Suburban Quilters Guild is a group of about 350 members. They have well known quilters speak/lecture and then you can sign up for classes with that person on Fri & Sat. Show and tell was awesome both by the quest speaker and members. So much talent in one room! Several tables to visit with dry goods ready to be sewn and donated to the charity of your choice (I came home with flannel for two newborn baby blankets). They also have a different vendor set up each month to purchase goodies. They meet one Sat of the month to quilt/sew together. Very active group. I think I'm really going to like it.

I belong to ASG, our neighbor group name is Sew Much Fun. We meet monthly and yes we do have sew much fun. Our sewers are at every level you can imagine. Some rarely sew, but love the fellowship of other sewers.

To my knowledge we have none around here. There is a Fiber Network, but not quite the same thing. Have tried talking my friend and quilt teacher into starting one, but she is not teh group type of person. She likes working one-on-one or by herself. So...

I belong to Rocket Quilters and Island Quilters. I joined earlier this year.

All of the members are so nice and helpful. We have a great time and do many things for charities.

I am on the membership committee in RQ.

I belong to a guild,and love it. I am VP of the Tri-County Quilt Guild.
We are a small guild of maybe 25 members., but we do alot . Put on a quilt show, do charity, 2 retreats a year and sometimes take trips. We have a holiday party and a picnic in July.
WE are always wanting new members to join. We meet on Thrusday nite once a month and that works out for the working members.

I belong to the tucson quilters guild,have for 4 years now.We do charity work also we have our annual quilt show in January 30+ years now.
you can check out the guild by going to Tucsonquiltersguild.com

[quote=bebe]

We played Strip Poker and used 2 1/2 inch strips to bid with I won several hands and came home with the same amount of strips that I started with. We had a great time.

I read this and started chuckling. Son, age 24, is visiting to watch football on TV with his dad. He wanted to know what was so funny. Wish you could have seen the look on his face when I said that a lady posted details of the strip poker game at her quilt guild. When I explained, he was disappointed. "That's not nearly as exciting as I thought it was going to be."

I'm not a guild member. I know we have a small group meeting in my town. I may check into it after the holidays...can't add anything else to my plate at this time of year. I'm not sure if they meet at a time I'm not working.

I haven't joined my local guild...yet! I need to find the time.

Did you know we all consider this board a quilting guild? You can download a membership card here: http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/3258.page

I designed the card eons ago and some local quilt shops give you a discount for belonging a quilt. But just remember, you're always welcome at this guild!

Hey teacup !!!!
glad you had a good laugh about the strip poker party we had :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I belong to the Sunshine Quilters Guild in San Diego, we actually meet in El Cajon. I am not sure how many members, I would guess about 100. We have speakers most meetings and some have classes with those speakers. It is a very supportive a diverse interests within the guild. I meet with a few ladies from the guild and work on hand quilt projects once a month. I also learn alot from the speakers and others.

Here is our website. http://www.sunshinequilters.com/

hello everyone

Very interesting reading all the reasons to belong and not to belong.
I am president of our group we have 20 members some are seasonal as they travel to warmer places in the winter..... most meetings we have about 12 members. This year we are doing quilt blocks..... each of the gals picks a block to demo..... the cutting sewing etc..... we each make our own block in the colors we want. Each will have enough blocks at the end of the year to make a quilt or to use the blocks in other projects as toats, table toppers etc. At each meeting we also do a small craft project like scented pot holders, little coin purses, pin cusions, checkbook covers etc. We meet every 3rd Monday of the month from 6 to 9.... or longer.
When we have our XMAS party we discuss what will be our big project for the next year. We are in a very rural area so we don't have to many people come in..... but we all try to get to a quilt show once in awhile. We make lap quilts for the nursing home, we also make 10 quilts for a family who lost their home do to a fire.......... yes they had 10 children. our little group also put on a quilt show last year..... couldn't believe how many quilts we all had done..... had over 500 people go through the show....... No compition we just showed all of our wonderful quilts........... and did some quilting demo's.
Well hope I haven't put any of you to sleep...... BOL
I am always looking for new ideas for our group so if anyone has ideas please share with me.
Scrap Quilter

I belong to Camarillo Quilters Association. We have nearly 300 members (last year we had 307). Because we are not far (about 40 miles) from Los Angeles we get some really awesome and large name speakers coming to our guild. I am not able to attend every month as we meet during the day on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. I used to work then, but have changed my work schedule to work 12-5 on Tuesdays. I do volunteer at MOPS on every other Tuesday, so I only make it to about 4 guild meetings a year. I have never been to any of their fantastic (I hear) workshops as they are on Wednesdays and I work. They are an awesome group of mostly ladies, mostly retired, people. We donate usually 300 quilts twice a year (600). No one twists your arm to donate or make donation quilts but If you want, there is usually kits available that are put together from donated fabrics so you don't have to spend any money to make a donation quilt if you don't want.
I wish I could go more often as well as to the workshops.
http://www.camarilloquilters.org/

not outside this one.but i have a good ideafor all aplacaiers I save my dryer sheets so when I want to do a applacaid qiult I dont have to worry
about the edges ijust sew my dryer sheet on right side of fabric an put slash in middle of whatever i'm doingan turn it so dryer sheet is on back side an then iron.can do a bunch up an then sew them on which ever way you would like.An if you need a bigger piece sew sheets together.

We are just starting a small guild ourselves. "Sew Bee It"
We have only 12 members so far a few live in other States. We have a lot planned over the few months, I'm very excited to "bee" a part of this.

I belong to the Whitley County Country Quilters in Columbia City, IN. I have been a member since their first year of meeting which was 10 years ago.

There's kind of a funny story about my joining. My husband saw the ad in the paper about the group which was scheduled to meet that day coincidentally. He called the president who was listed in the ad. At the time we had a carry-in meal for each meeting. I came home from work that evening and he met me at the door. He said, "There's a quilt club meeting tonight and they're meeting at such-and-so address. Here's your hot dish to take. I'll take care of the baby. Go have fun!" So I went to the meeting and loved it and have been going ever since. The funniest part is that everyone loved his casserole and asked what was in it, and I couldn't tell them because I didn't even know! He kind of makes things up as he goes anyway, so he probably didn't know either! :D

Our group has grown to around 50 members. We have all levels of quilters. It has been fun seeing people come into the group and start quilting and blossom into really accomplished quilters. I love the sharing that goes on. Everyone brings something unique.

OUr group meets on the last Tues night of each month. We have a couple of retreats a year, go on shop hops together, have UFO days. I really enjoy all the women in the group.

Eddie, I think it is awful that they don't let you join because you are a man! They're just mean and they don't deserve your company. Maybe you should start your own group! :( :-)

what part of WV did you live? there's 2 in Beckley,morgantown,3 in S. Charlstown, Bridgeport,Fayetteville . I would be nice if you could join one.

I belong to Friendship Quilters of Western CO and we have about 90 members. We have a meeting and program on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 9:00 am. We also are one of three guilds in our town, Montrose CO who put on the biggest quilt show in Western CO . And, guess, what??? we don't have a quilt store or fabric store. We drive 65 miles to Grand Junction to buy fabric . In 2008 we had MaryAnn Fons come to our show and this year I'm not sure who. We are the 2nd weekend in July , beautiful time to come to Western Colorado, we have about 200 quilts, and demos going on all day. We have a web site www.blackcanyonquiltshow.com that you can keep track of us. Our Friendsip newsletter is on that web site along with the other two guilds that help put this show together. I'm in charge of Publicity this year so quilters get the word around.. com to western co to see our show.

Unfortunately, my area guild meets during the day too and I work 60 miles west from my home. In fact, when our Walmart 'remodels' I won't even have anywhere to see people who 'craft' unless I travel!

Okay, I'm going to share a lot more then I ever have before with this question.
As a matter of fact I do belong to the Coconino Quilter's Guild. It's an amazing organization of quilters, seamstresses and fabric enthusiatists. To be honest, I shyed away from these things in the past because I pictured a group of busy-body people, gossiping about this and that, drinking coffee. This is part of my memories of the sewing circles my father was a part of. Yes, he was the quilter in our family. Good memories but not my cup of "tea".
I attended a meeting about 4 years ago on the insistance of a good crafting friend. That evening I found that this guild not only has hand stitching classes during the year but they also offered retreats, workshops, trunkshows, Saturday & evening classes, supported a local week long quilt camp retreat, and brought in international/national/local instructors for a very small yearly membership fee. Though they don't have a website they interact with the good size membership of about 100 via e-mail through newsletters, bulletins and important messages. The members come from neighboring states and numerous local communities, meet once a month in the evening at a local church where they share upcoming events, show n tell and a planned activity such as an ornament making evening, learning what judge's a looking for in competition, trunkshows, singing quilt teachers, and so many other things.
Along with all these activities we are also very much involved in our communities and the various needs. We are fortunate to have a Guild Stash which is donated fabrics from our members that didn't want the fabric any longer or a person that passed on that wanted us to put it to good use. And that we do by putting together in kits these fabrics for the guild members to work on. This year alone we had over 80 quilts, 90 pillowcases, 30 walker pouches and 15 back packs made from the kits that were in turn donated to local senior centers, a rescue center for homeless women & children and to our local emergency pediatric ward. Then with all the scraps our quilters collect from their projects we stuff old pillowcases, close them up and donate them to a rescue center for animals. We also received a donation of old sewing machines that needed some refurbishing that our local service center was kind enough to help us with. We then found a local women center that are working on establishing a "cottage industry" environment with these machines to help these ladies in learning a trade.
Next year we will have an auction to clear out many of the donated items that are not necessarily fabric to help finance many of our endeavors. We will also be displaying many of the quilts we work on at our local library for neighbors and visitors to enjoy. And this is really exciting, we are going to have a "Runway" show, where we get to strut our stuff. Many of us just love to sew and it's not always quilts. Fun time to laugh, admire and just be together to share with each other what makes our hearts sing.
Oh and by the way I'm the current President of the Guild but to be honest you may think I'm in charge but I beg to differ, I am a part of an amazing bunch of women that truly want to make a difference in our little community and have fun in the process. So if any of you are hesitating, step up and give your local guild a try. I was truly amazed and glad I did. And if any of you are in Flagstaff on the 4th Thursday of the Month, look for us, we advertise in the local fabric stores, newspaper and through other venues. Hope to see you.

are byou close to Pekn, ill, Zi drive there to a guild, becaue my corn field is inclosed by a lot of trees(state park)on 2 sides

Harmony just hang in there. I finally retired in December 08 after working for 53 years. I immediately joined a local guild, located about 15 miles away. We meet once a month and have a fantastic President. The meetings are well informed and our members frequently teach a class on a recent project they had completed. We generally meet from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm and members take turns bringing lunch. We do a raffle quilt once a year and our main charity project is making baby quilts for two area hospitals and a pregnancy counseling center. I have finally been able to enjoy my quilting, learning new tips and the social interaction between about 35 great ladies.

I belong to a guild in Florida. When I moved here it was one of the first things I did. 8) Never had time when I was working. I have made great friends and have improved my quilting. Should have found the time to join before.

Every group has its issues, but take what you need from the group and leave the rest. Volunteer to do some of the work, you will gain more than you give. It takes every member to make a good guild.