Chigger Holler Quilter

from my experience...you need to be prepared....One hour is just NOT enough time. Have fun with this! Many Blessings...I am also starting a group at my church. We will make quilts for needy, but my goal is to help community members learn to quilt!

Numa

My church group meets every week. We meet from 6 to 9 (or later)during good weather and during the winter we meet from 10 until 4 once a month. We make quilts for church members who are ill, had surgery, or that we feel need a remembrance that they are loved. We also make about 150 to 200 pieced stockings to fill and send to soldiers. We learn new techniques together, and really have great fellowship. This week though we met all day Monday, Tuesday night and will get together this afternoon because we have 4 quilts almost ready and want to finish them to display at our local fair, Plan on some extra time and you really need longer than an hour if you are going to sew there. It's been so nice this week to be able to leave machines up and just start right in! WE also have a storage area on site for machines, fabric, and our supplies. That is a huge help!

kim_s

Numa, your ministry sounds very similar to the one at my church. We meet once a week from 10-3. We make tied quilts for church members and their friends/family who have a serious illness. We pray for the person as we tie the quilt. We also make baby dedication quilts and comfort pillows for church members that are going through difficult times but don't really qualify for a quilt. We also make "soldier prayer squares" that we place ties in and pray for the recipient of the square (the soldiers can place it in their helmet). One of the gals is a chaplain for Samaritans Purse and does a lot of traveling so she always keeps soldier squares with her for when she see's military folks in the airports and stuff.

We have a great time of fellowship and prayer. It's really a lovely ministry to be a part of.

lucy39

We have two quilting clubs at our church. One meets every Monday morning to work on blocks for quilts for our local LifeChoices pregnancy center. The other meets twice a month at night and works on quilts for local needs, such as an Safeway house for mothers and children. We all do some work at home during the week. Also, we contacted our local WalMart and they give us gift certificates twice a year for $50 each for whatever needs we have. Of course, the coffee and cookies makes the time even more fun and we really enjoy the time together.

Bluphrog

Several of the ladies at my son's church have asked me to teach them how to sew. I think the experience level of the ladies runs from none to some, but none are quilters. We met for the first time and I took a stack of patterns / ideas and they decided that pillowcases would be a quick, easy beginner project. They have agreed to "make one / take one", meaning that for each one they make for themselves, they will make one for charity (the 1 million pillowcase challenge). If you would like the pattern, PM me and I will send it to you. I don't think there will be a copyright issue, because I was shown how to make these pillowcases, and then I sat down and wrote down the steps as I was putting them together. I'm sure I'm not the first one to write down a similar pattern, and somewhere out there, there is a published pattern, but I've never seen one.

greaterexp

My sister and 2 friends are starting to meet this month for some quilting/sewing/tatting/whatever time. We're very excited!! We're keeping it very informal and meeting for about 2 hours once a month - I wanted enough time for coffee and dessert! I used to go to a little church/homeschool group meeting in Illinois where we had girls of all ages and of various skill levels. It was wonderful to share with those who were just starting, or to learn from those who were experts. I learned so much from those kind, patient ladies.
As we begin, we're going to set the tone clearly before we invite any others: encouragement and honest constructive advice, no gossip, good desserts, sharing of responsibilities (like cleanup).
I hope you'll post about how your group is doing!

jrider

That sounds AWESOME!!!! What a wonderful way to fellowship and bring others together. I would love to get involved in a group like that!

bettyh77

Hey, congradlations to you all. I think this is all really great. I haven't said anything to my church yet but this sounds like something that might work out for my church. The church I am referring to is Lockland Baptist Church here in Nashville,Tn.To all my sewing friends have a blessed day.

Theresa

A thought...give your 'charter members' encouragement to help you with the overall plan for the quilt group. The more they are involved, the better the response will be. You are on the right track though! Please keep us posted.

lucy39

Another update on our church groups. We meet for 2.5 hours in the morning, so we can catch up on our weekly happenings, have coffee, dessert and still the time goes by so fast. We also, do the hats and scares for the winter clothes drive. There so much a group of you can get done in the time together. Good Luck and have lots of fun!!!!