New Quilt Guild - what makes your meetings successful?
10-23-2013, 04:50 AM
#21
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: central Ohio
Posts: 406
At our guild we have a person to act as "president of the month." She arranges for the speaker. If there is a fee she contacts the members of the executive board for permission. It has not been a problem. The president goes through the various committees asking for reports. If there is something to be voted on, the topic is brought up for discussion. We have a person who writes an excellent newsletter which is emailed to all members. We do have a treasurer. The executive board meets once every quarter. We have a service project and a quilt retreat. Every few years we put on a quilt show. It is all volunteer and has so far worked for our group.
10-23-2013, 06:08 AM
#23
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Chapel Hill
Posts: 1,086
You've received some great suggestions so far.
I belong to a largish guild. We meet monthly - the typical format is brief announcements/introduction of guest speaker - then a 30-40 minute program. Followed by a brief business meeting (this month it was the election of next year's officers). I don't think I've ever heard the minutes read in a meeting - we do get the monthly newsletter a few days prior to the meeting and there is a separate business meeting where most business is taken care of (open to all, attended primarily by the officers I believe). We end with Show & Tell - and there is always a great variety of projects (some done and some in progress). There is a 30 minute gathering / social time prior to the meeting.
We have several national speakers in each year - generally preceded by a workshop (or 3) the weekend prior (we meet on Mondays) - an ice cream social in the summer and a holiday potluck in December. We also have local programs - this month is was a review of the charity work and upcoming charity and outreach opportunities.
We do a block of the month raffle most months - this month there 19 blocks - so two lucky winners. And we have a nametag drawing (if you wear your quilted name tag, you can put your name in the bag).
I really like attending, even though I rarely have anything near completion to share.
I also belong to a Bee within the guild - so one Saturday a month I meet up with a smaller group where we share works in progress, chat and eat. And may do some handwork. Over the summer we had a day where we hand dyed fabrics and next month is an extended sew-in (which I'll miss due to my son's hockey games).
Cheers, K
I belong to a largish guild. We meet monthly - the typical format is brief announcements/introduction of guest speaker - then a 30-40 minute program. Followed by a brief business meeting (this month it was the election of next year's officers). I don't think I've ever heard the minutes read in a meeting - we do get the monthly newsletter a few days prior to the meeting and there is a separate business meeting where most business is taken care of (open to all, attended primarily by the officers I believe). We end with Show & Tell - and there is always a great variety of projects (some done and some in progress). There is a 30 minute gathering / social time prior to the meeting.
We have several national speakers in each year - generally preceded by a workshop (or 3) the weekend prior (we meet on Mondays) - an ice cream social in the summer and a holiday potluck in December. We also have local programs - this month is was a review of the charity work and upcoming charity and outreach opportunities.
We do a block of the month raffle most months - this month there 19 blocks - so two lucky winners. And we have a nametag drawing (if you wear your quilted name tag, you can put your name in the bag).
I really like attending, even though I rarely have anything near completion to share.
I also belong to a Bee within the guild - so one Saturday a month I meet up with a smaller group where we share works in progress, chat and eat. And may do some handwork. Over the summer we had a day where we hand dyed fabrics and next month is an extended sew-in (which I'll miss due to my son's hockey games).
Cheers, K
10-23-2013, 07:18 AM
#24
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Greenville, South Carolina
Posts: 1,649
We had a Secret Sister program. Those that wanted to be in it filled out a questionnaire about their likes, colors, etc., anything that would help your sister to get things you liked. From 3 different SS I have received a block a month for twelve months. That was always fun. We reveal and redraw at a certain month.
10-23-2013, 09:13 AM
#25
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Central Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Posts: 7,695
1) Adopt a charity and have a sewing meeting to make quilts or finish the ones people make at home.
2)Have folks bring their "unwanteds" (can be scraps, fabric they hate, UFO's, batting) for other members to take and use.
3) Have a "challenge" quilt (our guild has used a "crayon" challenge that was very well received. Guild bought a box of 64 crayons and dumped them into a brown sack. Each guild member had to reach in and choose one crayon. Whatever color they chose, they had to use it in a quilt. We set guidelines - no larger than 36" x 36", any technique, but color chosen had to be used on the front of the quilt. Amazing results!).
4) If guild can afford it - hire a "professional quilter" to do a trunk show and a class on their specialty. If guild can't afford it, maybe there is a member who is willing to "teach" her specialty. Charge guild members for the class - some goes to teacher, rest into guild treasury.
5) Have an "open sew" meeting where members can bring anything they are working on. Members are available to each other to help with questions/problems (a brick & mortar QB!).
6) Have a row round-robin. You begin a quilt with one row of your choice of fabric/pattern. You pass it onto to another member who adds a row and so on. Eventually you get back a completed quilt top. You can add fabric to your row to be used by the others in your robin, but cannot give pattern directions or likes/dislikes. (My guild has done this a few times. We kept the rows and fabric in clean, new pizza boxes. We had one person coordinate the robins. We were a large guild of over 100 members and each robin had 10 members in it. The coordinator kept track of the robins and who was in them and when to pass the boxes - usually at the monthly meeting. Worked very well with delightful results).
7) Quilting "Secret Santa" - at your holiday meeting do a secret gift swap of quilt related items. Set a price $15-$20. Make this a fun meeting. Lots of refreshments, sing carols, etc. At the end of year meeting (June?) have an ice cream social and a show & tell of all the projects you worked on during the guild year.
8) Do you have a program committee? If not, get a group together and discuss different ideas.
9) Technique meeting - set up different "stations" around the room and have someone teach different quilting techniques. Some ideas: different types of applique, paper piecing, hand quilting, FMQ using a DSM, crazy quilting...the list goes on and on. Do this as a round robin. Start groups at all stations, learn for a set amount of time, then switch. By the end of the meeting, everyone should have visited each station.
I'm sure if I really put my mind to it, I could come up with more ideas. Hope these few help. Feel free to PM me if you want more info or ideas.
Take care!
Anita
2)Have folks bring their "unwanteds" (can be scraps, fabric they hate, UFO's, batting) for other members to take and use.
3) Have a "challenge" quilt (our guild has used a "crayon" challenge that was very well received. Guild bought a box of 64 crayons and dumped them into a brown sack. Each guild member had to reach in and choose one crayon. Whatever color they chose, they had to use it in a quilt. We set guidelines - no larger than 36" x 36", any technique, but color chosen had to be used on the front of the quilt. Amazing results!).
4) If guild can afford it - hire a "professional quilter" to do a trunk show and a class on their specialty. If guild can't afford it, maybe there is a member who is willing to "teach" her specialty. Charge guild members for the class - some goes to teacher, rest into guild treasury.
5) Have an "open sew" meeting where members can bring anything they are working on. Members are available to each other to help with questions/problems (a brick & mortar QB!).
6) Have a row round-robin. You begin a quilt with one row of your choice of fabric/pattern. You pass it onto to another member who adds a row and so on. Eventually you get back a completed quilt top. You can add fabric to your row to be used by the others in your robin, but cannot give pattern directions or likes/dislikes. (My guild has done this a few times. We kept the rows and fabric in clean, new pizza boxes. We had one person coordinate the robins. We were a large guild of over 100 members and each robin had 10 members in it. The coordinator kept track of the robins and who was in them and when to pass the boxes - usually at the monthly meeting. Worked very well with delightful results).
7) Quilting "Secret Santa" - at your holiday meeting do a secret gift swap of quilt related items. Set a price $15-$20. Make this a fun meeting. Lots of refreshments, sing carols, etc. At the end of year meeting (June?) have an ice cream social and a show & tell of all the projects you worked on during the guild year.
8) Do you have a program committee? If not, get a group together and discuss different ideas.
9) Technique meeting - set up different "stations" around the room and have someone teach different quilting techniques. Some ideas: different types of applique, paper piecing, hand quilting, FMQ using a DSM, crazy quilting...the list goes on and on. Do this as a round robin. Start groups at all stations, learn for a set amount of time, then switch. By the end of the meeting, everyone should have visited each station.
I'm sure if I really put my mind to it, I could come up with more ideas. Hope these few help. Feel free to PM me if you want more info or ideas.
Take care!
Anita
10-23-2013, 10:32 AM
#26
Power Poster
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Lowell, MA
Posts: 14,083
I was a guild president for 2 years and I tried to keep the business end of the meeting short and sweet. Show and tells are always fun, as well as fabric swaps, block swaps, there are a great number of suggestions already given below, I don't have much else to add, except try to keep the meetings fun and interesting. I wish you luck on your new quilt guild.
10-23-2013, 01:31 PM
#27
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 323
We have an informal group, with lots of talking and eating. Everyone brings a dish to the meeting, with a theme suggested either by a member or the time of year... Holiday memories, movie food, etc. We have a group project. Once we all made string blocks, of a color we drew from a basket, then we swapped, so each of us had one of each color. We also had a movie challenge, drew an envelope that had a movie with a "color" title and a crayon. The movie title and the crayon determined the colors of the quilt. Mine was an I Spy with Goldfinger for the movie and strawberry red for the crayon. We did a pizza box, where each person got a pizza box with 1/2 yard of a focus fabric in it. We passed it around for 12 months, and each person made one block using some of the focus fabric. At the end we drew numbers to see who would get which pizza box filled with 12 quilt blocks. We have show and tell. We laugh and share with each other. No minutes, no money, no officers... no Roberts Rules of Order. The other meeting we have each month is a sit and sew, we do have money there.... $5 for contribution to the pizza order. During that meeting we can sew on whatever we want, but most of us work on the quilts our group donates to CASA, for the children that have been removed from their homes due to abuse or violence. The CASA workers tell us that the quilts are loved and appreciated. We bring strips every month for a strip drawing, writing our names in the selvedge, and someone draws. The winner gets all the strips and determines the color of the strips for the next month. Thus, our name - The Red Hot Friday Night Strippers. We are just about to draw for secret sisters, for the holiday season, and start a 6 month mystery quilt project. It is wonderful. I treasure the meetings and my fellow strippers.....
10-23-2013, 05:17 PM
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Pittsburg, Kansas
Posts: 1,691
Our guild has about 100 members, with an average attendance of about 55. My suggestion for making a successful guild is to have a newsletter with the info. needed to the members, a note about upcoming classes, ect. It won't take but a few minutes at the meeting to ask if there are any questions, which there usually aren't. Another thing is to have classes not greatly often. For us, it is expensive to take a class; $40-50.00. Our Project Chair for this year has a great idea; a class for only $5.00 about an hr. before the January Meeting--on applique on Wool. She told me she already had a lot sign up. I hated the classes, as I always went home with another UFinished, which I already had too many of anyway. The annual Quilt Show is a big draw for us. I would say that makes for a successful guild. We have grown every year, and if you want more info., just pm me and I will share more. We are a rural area, and the nearest guild is about 50 mi. away. Wish we had a daytime group, but not big enough for that. Good luck! Mariah.
10-23-2013, 05:31 PM
#29
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: So Cal
Posts: 576
I think we have a little over 100 members with about 60 or so at the monthly meeting. We have several chairpersons. One has fat quarters. You get a ticket for each themed monthly fat quarter turned in and a chance to win a stack of them. Usually several members win some. We have the same for a themed block turned in. Each month several people turn in finished items and we are allowed to buy dollar tickets to win the one we want. We put our tickets in a can that is numbered like the item we want.
First, we have a speaker, with a trunk show. Then we have a break, where we are asked to check the minutes and treasurers report for accuracy. When we resume, our Pres. asks for any corrections to them. Then we have a report from the philanthropy group about what was turned in for charities. We give to several childrens' homes. We also make dog beds out of scraps, etc. for some "no-kill" shelters. We have show and tell. We did a survey last year and that was voted as the best part of our meeting. Each person gets up front with their quilt and a mike and two members hold up their quilt while the maker talks about their quilt.
Then we have drawings for a stack of fat quarters, blocks of the month made and turned in, and the drawing for items we bought dollar tickets on. The last drawing is for donations by local quilt shops (a pattern, or a group of fat quarters or for a $10.00 gift certificate. When we come to the meeting, we sign in and get a ticket for the quilt shop drawing. If we wear our name tag, we get another ticket to put in the shop drawing.
Sometimes we have a pajama party and come dressed in our pj's and play games like bingo or left, right, center.
A lot of people bring in their already read magazines and our librarian sells them to us for .25. Usually in April, various friendship groups donate baskets of goodies and we have an auction where we sign up with the highest price offered is the winner. We usually have several tables of baskets. There is always a lot of excitement about these. Good luck with all of the ideas you are getting from everyone.
First, we have a speaker, with a trunk show. Then we have a break, where we are asked to check the minutes and treasurers report for accuracy. When we resume, our Pres. asks for any corrections to them. Then we have a report from the philanthropy group about what was turned in for charities. We give to several childrens' homes. We also make dog beds out of scraps, etc. for some "no-kill" shelters. We have show and tell. We did a survey last year and that was voted as the best part of our meeting. Each person gets up front with their quilt and a mike and two members hold up their quilt while the maker talks about their quilt.
Then we have drawings for a stack of fat quarters, blocks of the month made and turned in, and the drawing for items we bought dollar tickets on. The last drawing is for donations by local quilt shops (a pattern, or a group of fat quarters or for a $10.00 gift certificate. When we come to the meeting, we sign in and get a ticket for the quilt shop drawing. If we wear our name tag, we get another ticket to put in the shop drawing.
Sometimes we have a pajama party and come dressed in our pj's and play games like bingo or left, right, center.
A lot of people bring in their already read magazines and our librarian sells them to us for .25. Usually in April, various friendship groups donate baskets of goodies and we have an auction where we sign up with the highest price offered is the winner. We usually have several tables of baskets. There is always a lot of excitement about these. Good luck with all of the ideas you are getting from everyone.
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