Quilt Guild Changed My Life
I’m totally stealing that phrase from Lauren, who said it some time earlier this fall. But it’s completely true for me, too.
Exactly one year ago today, Jacquie and I were hoping for maybe ten people to show up to the organizational meeting of the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild. Little did we know that 34 (!) people would show up and that, today, one year later we’d be an official organization with 96 (!!!) official, dues paying members!
To celebrate, the officer team is doing a little blog post-apalooza. Consider this a giant love letter to you, guild friends. From Jacquie, Jaime, Jenny, Lauren and me.
And now, the top five reasons I can confidently say that quilt guild changed my life:
5) I’ve learned about all kinds of new gadgets. Thanks to Kelly, I know about hera markers. Thanks to Jacquie, I now use Best Press like there’s no tomorrow. Thanks to Paula’s Ten Minute Tip, I knew to get my mom a circle cutter for Christmas.
4) I’ve picked up some great techniques. Carla’s Ten Minute Tip on using leaders and enders made me go home and chop up all of my now-when-am-I-ever-going-to-use-that scraps into 2 1/2″ squares. I’m happy to report that I’m working on my own Color Box quilt, Carla! I’ve also become a complete believer in the ladder stitch for binding. Oh. My. Goodness. Talk about life changing!
3) I get to experience the guild with my adorable mom (who made the quilt below). We talk on the phone and see each other quite a bit, but this is something that is just ours. No toddlers! My mom is the person who taught me to sew and I’m so very glad she did. Love you, “Gigi!”
2) We’ve got one amazing team of officers. Working together with Jaime, Jenny, Lauren and Jacquie has been so much fun. Sure, starting up a brand new guild is a lot of work, but with our team it doesn’t feel like work. I can’t even begin to tell you the hours we’ve spent- both together and on the phone- working on ‘guild stuff’. In fact, there for a while I think I had Jacquie on speed dial… so much so that she actually told me she missed my calls. (Be careful what you wish for, friend!)
And the number one reason quilt guild changed my life? Easy. I now have a special group of friends that I get to see each month, on one special night. They make me laugh. They push me to try new things (Some day I will drop the feed dogs. Just not yet!). They amaze me with their creativity. And they can talk fabric! I don’t really have many friends who can spout off names of fabric lines like these ladies can. Alex once joked about a certain fabric being “the new Pez.” And I totally got it. When I made the decision to leave teaching and stay home with my kids, Melissa was so wonderful about sharing her own “life after the classroom” experience. When we decided to temporarily move to San Diego, Mary Anne (a former San Diego resident!) even made me fancy list of fabric shops in the area where we’d be living. Complete with map!
I leave meetings in such a good mood and want to immediately go home and sew. It was a big year. We made some incredible quilts for our NICU project (pictured below) and hosted Cherri House. My goal for 2011 is to bring some of my non-guild crafty friends to a meeting or two. Something tells me they’ll love it.
My life is more full with the KCMQG. No doubt about it.
how wonderful!!
What a nice post, I enjoyed reading it! I am in agreement with you the modern quilt guilds are amazing.
I’m interested to hear your secrets. We are really struggling with our Indy one we struggle to get attendance and interest in things.
Hey, Kate! While I don’t think we’re doing anything extraordinary, I can think of a couple of things that help make the guild what it is. I’m trying to gather my thoughts and will get you an e-mail asap. Promise.
What a great post, Shea! I enjoyed clicking on all the links….and agree about the MQG being life changing. I sure am glad that you gals “went for it”! Thanks for doing such a great job. I’m anxious to see your Colorbox Quilt….are you using solids, maybe?!! That would be so cute Whatever you do it will be great….love your quilts and style.
Thanks, Carla! I’m so glad you are enjoying the guild. My Color Box quilt is simply a ton of left overs from everything I’ve made in the last couple of years. No particular color scheme, but they’ll look good together (I think) because most of my stuff has the same color ‘vibe.’
Thank you for initiating that first call to Jacquie! Although I’m a distant member, I do love when I can get to KC for our meetings. I can honestly say that the guild has breathed new life into my work. I have been inspired by all the members’ work and love that the guild is for quilters of all ages. That, in itself, is awesome!
Patty I have to tell you that the string quilt you showed at Harper’s back in March (?) is one of the quilts from show and tell that sticks out in my mind. I just loved the colors and I especially liked what you did with the back!
I agree- I love the age range in the group! Hope to see you at a meeting soon!
Drop those feed dogs, Shea! You’ll never regret it!
I know, I know, I know. I just don’t want to mess up!!
if i don’t get to re-attending the meetings i’m gonna be SO SAD. i miss everyone so much. baby deliciousness doesn’t fully cover my pain.
Laura, we miss you! Looking forward to when you re-emerge!
thanks for all your hard work with the guild, Shea! It has definitely been a good thing in my life this past year. :)
Yeah! I am so glad that you stepped forward with your NICU quilts idea. It was awesome to see more and more popping up at meetings as we progressed with that project. Thanks for all your work on that!
What an amazing start to your guild! Congratulations! Thanks for sharing all those fabulous moments from the past year.
Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of when I started the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild’s ning site and we’re getting awfully close to fifty paid members. Hooray for Modern Quilt Guilds!
So lovely looking quilts. Nice patterns. I love in the second last photo from lower row, from left the second quilt. Awesome.
I soooooo agree that Quilt Guild changed my life. In so many ways. Thank you (and the rest of our fearless leaders) so much for getting us started and leading us forward into another year.