Craftybear, I joined a group at my local SR. center. After a few months of being ignored by one gal and shushed by another, I just quit going. I wanted friendship and fellowship and maybe some guidelines along the way. I quit nearly a month ago and no one has called. I don't miss the ignoring person or the person who shushed me all the time, but I do miss the others. Too bad the one bad apple applies. I'm quite happy in this forum, have learned many new things and gathered quite a few friends, you included. :thumbup: :-D

Craftybear, that group at the church sounds like lots of fun. That's the kind of group I would like to be part of. The only time I attended a Guild group was when I was working on my first quilt(and we all know how they look). they just looked at what I was working on and they seemed to stick their nose up and didn't make me very welcome. they were only interested in judging each other's work. I didn't go back.
I did quilt with about 5 ladies from our church here in Ok. we met in a lady's home who had a very large sewig room. that was a fun group but the lady adopted two babies and we had to sew at home. This quilting group has been enjoyable and I have learned lots of things in the short time I have been on here. And never once have you been unkind to anyone who has posted photos or questions to be answered. You all have been encouraging to the new quilters

I joined a group this year called CAMEO (Come and Meet Each Other), with my neighbor.They have various speakers, do charity quilting, we volunteered to go to a local museum village and quilted in the houses for visitors to see and learn from, they have refreshments and drawings. There is a schedulted retreat in April but I'm not able to attend. It does sound like a lot of fun. You should give it a try at least a couple of times before decidings. I did and truly enjoyed it. I did a BOM at a local mill and found people were not very friendly to newcomers.

we have a local quilt group because we did not want to become too organized:)

I have yet to join one... I've been thinking about it and considering it ... but just don't have the time to devote to it right now ... we shall see :)

The guild near me is another one of those unfriendly and unwelcoming clubs with by-laws, minutes, and the "clique" mentality. The first night I attended, no new members were introduced, because if we had been, I would have met another lady who is a quilter. Fate had a hand because I did meet this lady a few weeks later through a neighbor who knew we both were long-time quilters. Turns out the "clique" seemed to be jealous of this lady (who is in her 80's) whose applique ability and patterns were published in national quilt magazines.

She and I started our own informal group of quilters. We were given free space in our local high school, specifically to encourage older folks to quilt. We decided there would be no by-laws, no election of officers, no minutes, and no dues! If we teach and several of us do, we only charge for the materials. We offer all the new techniques because we have such wonderfully talented women--and a few men! We do have a coordinator who plans the many activities of quilt classes, demonstrations, visits to nearby quilt shops, and other field trips.

Someone suggested that we place a jar on the cutting table for those who can afford it, to drop in a quarter. No one is watching to see who does and who doesn't contribute. We never have much money and that has turned out to be a good thing in that it protects the group from those who try to wangle money out of us. No money, no tax obligations, no nada, but fun and encouragement to quilters, both new and experienced.

The most amazing of all is that word spread of our group and people just started donating fabrics, books, notions, UFO's, etc. They knew that we would share this bounty with those in the group who cannot afford to buy much.

:lol: :lol:

we only have one here, and you cant go if you don't have money. Penny

I live in the center of a triangle of guilds, so I joined all three.
One offers a day and night meeting twice a month(attend both), day is mostly bussiness and demonstrations. Night is more project oriented. We put on a yearly Quilt feast and have national speakers come in and take 2-3 bus trips a year.
The other two guild are much smaller and it is more like a group of quilting friends get together and we sew all day once a month.
I have a very small group of friends who are also in all three and on the off week when neither of these group meet...we meet at one of the ladies house and..... sew all day.

no I don't belong to a guild but my Mother teaches a quilting class. We're learning the fine art of hand quilting. She just taught us the tube quilting technique. She did allow machines for that...usually not! We meet every Monday evening from 5PM-8PM. Some of the ladies have been with her over 10 years. I joined last year and have learned a lot. We even have one man in our group! We're having our first retreat on April 24.

raptureready – Wow, I was a bit surprised to read there is a guild that actually doesn’t let anyone who wants join it. That really just shocks me! The guild I belong to is so friendly and we tend to embrace anyone who shows even the slightest interest in quilting. Although I have been in a guild in California that was run by a group that reminds me of the group you speak of. These women were quite the clique. If you didn’t go to all the best shows in the country or have the best machines, you didn’t belong in their group! Needless to say, I didn’t belong. Lol.

The guild I belong to here in Idaho Falls is a fairly good size, about 150 members. My guild has a free mini-class before each monthly meeting where someone gives a 30 minute demonstration or lecture. It’s been on everything from choosing fabrics for projects to what types of threads to use to how to machine appliqué. This is separate from the education segment in the main part of the meeting. There’s a speaker, sometimes a trunk show (my favorite!), and normal “meeting” stuff. Show & Tell is probably everyone’s favorite part of the meeting and it’s usually like a mini quilt show & filled with amazing quilts! There are also the standard intraguild challenges & fun projects to get involved in. Since it’s so big we don’t do any sewing at the meeting, though many of us bring hand work. We have a bunch of smaller bees going on & that’s usually where all the social fun takes place. I’m in 4 of the smaller bees so I tend to stay fairly busy. And this month we’ve got Sally Collins coming in to teach two classes and I get to take them both! 8)

I used to belong to 3 guilds but I’ve pared it down the past year since my health has really taken a nose dive and I’ve cut back to the one guild. I can’t imagine my life without the friends I’ve made through this guild!

I got the opportunity to be a guild president, though it was for a smaller guild. I usually try to fill in with some area and have been Workshop Chairman, Treasurer, and Intraguild Chairman as well. I have a lot of respect for those ladies (and gentlemen) who fill those duty rolls. It can be a lot of work and very little thanks. Sadly, it can also go to peoples’ heads and I’ve seen people change and go power hungry and ruin a guild when they take over. I think those in charge really set the flavor for the guild and it’s the people at the top that can make or break a guild.

bstanbro – Ouch. I’ve had an experience similar to the one you are talking about, where only a certain honored few were allowed to work on the raffle quilt. I wasn’t one of those honored few. In fact, there were a few of us who love to appliqué and are fairly decent at it (my g/f is a teacher at the national level for appliqué) and we were really hurt when we were told our participation wasn’t needed. Our solution was to make sure the rules were changed for the next quilt that was made to raffle off. And thankfully I’ve been able to be involved in the process for the past two raffle quilts, both with piecing, appliqué, and doing hand quilting. It’s one of my ways of giving back to my guild and helping to provide for funds to bring in some amazing teachers. In fact, it’s become quite the guild project and a real source of pride for a lot of us.

Zoe – I want to join your guild!!!