DK Quilt Guild: A place for quilters to gather, share ideas, projects, and to make the world a better place, one quilt at a time. Join us and share your thoughts, projects, questions, and tips. Quilters here are at many different levels of skill. Beginners and non-quilters are welcome, too!
Here in Vermont we have lots of quilt guilds with different activities and purposes. Thought I'd share the three I belong to and invite others to add their experiences.
No pictures, since I'm technologically challenged, but hope to improve as time goes on.
Kirby Quilters
The township where I live has only 500 residents and no church, school or store/post office so the quilters serve as old-fashioned "church ladies" -- sometimes serving pot luck at a funeral and making a new quilt for each new baby. For a while, we also did wedding quilts but found one hand-made item on a yard sale 6 months later when the marriage broke up. So now we do anniversary quilts for 25- or 50 year milestones as well as quilts for convalescing. Our raffle quilts earn money for supplies. The more creative members sewed a milk can to celebrate family farms and a row of turnips with string for roots. Started in 1976, the group has changed over the years but remains well known in the community and contributing to the county fair.
Heart of Vermont.
This group of about 50 meets 10 months a year in Barre. They have speakers and fun projects such as round robin, square robin, mystery quilt and a sewing day. The first
two require putting together a bag of different fabrics and then sharing them so others
can make a square or strip to be later sewn together. The mystery quilt guides one
through the steps to make a finished quilt without knowing its design. This can be tedious, as the one time I had to put together 300 half-square triangles! Both of these guilds may have "free" tables where members share extra fabric or books. Many of the members bring finished projects for "show and tell" in this, the newest of the three groups I attend.
Green Mountain Quilters Guild
Along with the Barre group, this group asks annual $15 dues. I believe GMQG is unique inbeing a guild of guilds. About 15-20 guilds are represented at the meetings where we host a variety of speakers and workshops. Local vendors entice us with their products and the show and tell winners actually receive ribbons. In the spring we all contribute items for a fund-raising auction and try to take home lots of prizes.
All three groups provide places for quilters both novice and expert to meet and share ideas. Probably the other common activity is eating -- count on good refreshments.
Sometimes I wonder when I have time for my own quilting with all of this.
What quilting groups keep you stocked with ideas and help? Let's hear from other guilds.