kayluvs2quilt

Our church has a group that meets at the church weekly from 9 - 12. We have a closet full of donated material from the church members and we make prayer quilts for anyone in need of being surrounded by God's love. The lap-sized quilts are tied by the church members on a Sunday. We put the finishing touches and label for the quilt at the next meeting. We have quilters, non-quilters, people who want to learn to quilt and some who just come for the three hours away from caregiving for a family member. Lots of show and tell, laughter, deciding what the next project will be, laughter, and more laughter. We are going into our third year of meeting. It has been a true blessing in my life............

Shankquilt

I started a small group several years ago just to be able to talk about quilting and craft things we enjoy doing. We meet one evening a month (most of us still work full time). Some evenings we get no further than show and tell. Other evenings we bring projects to work on. We take turns hosting and serving a dessert. The evening goes so fast as we laugh as much as we talk. It's always fun when someone brings a new hint or idea to the group (I have shared several that I got from this wonderful board). We also do a day retreat where we work on our own projects or have a mini lesson by someone in our group.

Farm Quilter

I belong to 3 guilds: (1) a small one in my home town where we meet every Monday night with a business meeting once a month, a demo night once a month and the rest of the time we bring our own project to work on or hand quilt the raffle quilt we have going. We have a quilt show and a retreat every year. (2) large guild in Spokane that meets 4 times a year with a business meeting and a guest speaker who also does a couple of classes. We have a quilt show every year. (3) a large guild in Florida with meetings once a month with a speaker who also does some classes, 2 retreats a year and a quilt show every other year. Different ladies in this guild will also give classes on a particular block/quilt during the year.

My favorite is a quilting bee I belong to in Florida with 7 ladies who meet every Thursday at one lady's home (she has a separate quilting room (building) that is set up for all of us to sew at the same time) where we sew from 10-12 then go out to lunch, returning to sew until about 3. We would plan road trips to visit quilt shops or other things of interest to everyone and go on shop hops together. When I was in Florida house/pet sitting for my daughter while she was in Afghanistan, these ladies were my sanity! I miss my weekly dose of Vitamin F (friends) now that I have returned home to Washington, but I'll be going back just to visit them. SewWhat!?! is the name of this wonderful bee! Three of us in the group are longarm quilters, one is into cross-stitching and applique, and we are all at different levels in our quilting. We have worked together to make quilts with curves and pineapple quilts, sharing templates, material and fun. We give impromptu lessons on attaching binding, making blocks and design. We also got together and put together quilts for all the guys deployed with my daughter to Afghanistan - most of the blocks were donated by quilters from all over the United States and the UK.

donnalynett

I belong to a small group called "Quilts For Giving". We meet Monday and Wednesday from 10am - 2pm and the second Thursday of the month from 7-9pm. All our quilts are donated to our local Hospice and the pediatrics ward of our local hospital. If we have enough we give to other charity organizations. We get done as much as we can and most of us take projects home to work on and bring them back when done. I do most of my quilts for giving at home and then drop them off before we deliver the quilts around the 1st of each month. I believe we have approx. 10 members now. We raffle a quilt once a year to raise money for batting and the fabric we need is either donated by individuals or provided by our members.

jeank

I enjoyed reading all the previous posts about your groups. Here are mine.

Michigan:
1. We call it a guild, operates like a sewing club. We make quilts for local organizations to raffle. Take road trips to quilts shows and shop hops and do projects for ourselves. Meets 2 nights per month.

2. Miracle Quilts for wounded soldiers. Meets 2 times a month. I usually attend only one.

3. Machine embroidery club. We share ideas, show and tell, and attend two group functions with other MI embroiders per year. We meet at the senior center every Tues afternoon. Sometimes bring our machines, not always.

Florida

4. Labor of Love, we make charity items. We meet every week, sewing machines once a month.

5. Sewing circle. We meet at a members home on Tuesdays to sew. Only 5-6 in attendance.

On-line:

6 & 7 online discussions, swaps, block raffles, friendship. Retreat in ohio in July and the other group is having the frist retreat next March in Florida.

8. Sewing with my grandchildren and getting my own things done.

Whew, no wonder I never have any time, now that I list them.

Jean

cmg625

Thank you so much for all your input. I belong to a quilting group but we do much more than quilting. Everyone brings something to work on (quilting, knitting, crocheting, etc) and we sit around and chit chat while we are working on our project. We also work on quilts for children attending Pre-K that might not have blankets to bring to school for their nap time. We meet weekly, but nothing organized, very laid back and enjoyable. We always have a time for show and tell on our latest projects.

burchquilts

I've always belonged to the local quilt guild, where-ever we lived but after going to the one here for a couple of years, I'd had all of them I could take. I won't bore you with the gory details but suffice it to say when you come to actually dread the monthly meeting, you know it's time to bail. Which I did. But my BFF was my quilting buddy so I was OK. But then she died from her cancer & I was solo again. That was super icky. But I found QOV & they're really nice. And then I stumbled on the board (I still don't know how I found out about this board) & I'm THRILLED to have so many WONDEFUL quilting buddies, even if they are online. In ways that's almost better (it's 3:15 AM & I'm "talking" to my friends!). I miss having people to sit around & sew with but you can't have it all, I guess.

tezell0801

After reading about all of these groups, I am jealous. I am a new quilter and I would love to have a group to share and learn with. I will being a search for a group near me. So far this board is my source of inspriation, advice and instruction.

Quiltshaker

We have a group of six that meet each Tuesday and we have a large frame - taking turns to handquilt our quilts. Have been together many years. We rotate houses and sometimes we go to lunch. We chit-chat, catch up on our families, gossip, laugh and have a wonderful time. A real blessing to have these women in my life. Also take road trips from time to time and any quilt show that we can manage. We love handquilting as well as showing what we've accomplished each week with show and tell. LOVE THESE QUILTERS!!!

Rubesgirl

I am in a group that meets every other Thurs from 1 pm to 4 pm at our LQS. We choose a pattern and make something new each month. There are anywhere from 4 to 8 of us at each gathering and all of our quilts are so unique even though we work on the same pattern. We have a good time, sew, do a lot of talking, help each other choose fabrics, laugh a lot and exchange ideas and information. Great group of women and I hate missing a meeting when I have to. :-)