suggestions / recommendations needed...

It's that time of year again -- planning for next years monthly guild meetings.
This past year we
did some fun things... and we need to be creative for next year as well. We
did several demo
nights, a program on computers in quilt design, a slide show of sewing spaces
and more.
So tell me about some of the activities / guests your guilds have featured in
the past several years
that you truly enjoyed. It is always fun to hear what others are doing.
As for guest speakers... how do you locate designers / speakers that are within
a reasonable
distance. Me -- I'm not too far from Detroit so if you know anyone not too far
from here that would
be a great guest ... I'd welcome the recommendation!
Thanks...
Kate in MI

Beth Ferrier is up in Sagninaw area. find her at she wrote 'hand applique by machine' et al. lots of pix of her stuff on her website and probly has her schedule too. being close enough should mean shes not gonna cost ya an arm and a leg for her travel expenses anyhow. i'm sure shes got a great trunk show to go with any talk she does as well. she might even have a day free in her schedule for a half or full day class for your guild. NAYY, jeanne

Here in CA we are fortunate to have two groups that work with guilds and teachers and such. Our guild belongs to NCQC (Northern California Quilt Council), there's a Southern California group too. Guilds join, teachers join, affiliates etc. They meet quarterly. Two meetings are topics that would interest guilds and two are "meet the teachers". That's when potential speakers line up and take 2 minutes each to tell what they speak on, show class samples and later you can walk around where they have tables set up for each teacher to display his/her things and you can book them. Wonderful. I know other states have similar things, you might check to see if Michigan does.
Another option is to contact other guilds, get on their newsletter list and keep notes of who they invite to speak as well as notes about articles that say things like "Susie taught the guild a wonderful class on x" because you never know, Susie might want to spread her wings.
Quilt shops not only have teacher who might be interested, but sometimes they will split the cost of travel and housing with us so that person can teach for them.
A fun activity we had last year was first quilts, last quilts. People signed up in advance to participate. They brought those two quilts with them. The first quilt was hung with a number pinned to it. Then the ladies lined up and showed their recent quilt and gave one hint about their first quilt. Audience had sheets with everyones name on it to take notes. Then there was time for people to wander the room and write down their guesses about which first quilt went with who. At the end the makers stood in front of their quilt and you could check to see how many you had correct. That was very fun.
marcella
In article ,

The southern group is the SCCQG: My local guild belongs as do most other guilds here. Insurance is a big draw with them also. I've never gone but the meet the teacher meetings is said to be the best attended and we always have a couple of gals go.
A year or two ago the guild did strip poker. I missed the meeting but it was a big hit. Quilto is one they plan for summer months when attendance is low because of folks away traveling. UFO auctions are a fun meeting. Often teachers are already traveling to your area and might be available. Many teachers post their schedules on their webpages. Do some googling and see what you can find. Look up Ann Leatz. She just moved back your way and does beautiful appliqué. Her classes are good and she does a trunk show too. SHe started my guild years ago and is a fun gal that is very talented. HTH, TAria

Howdy!
QGOA:
We have lots of popular big-name quilters come to the guild, and we pay well for it. However, it's the closer-to-home programs I often enjoy most, quilters from this area (and Ft.Worth-Dallas is a big area so we have plenty to choose from), shops that have an interesting twist, authors, physical therapists. Now that was a good evening, one of our members who is a p.t. did a program that made us get up and move, work w/ our neighbors, learn some de-stressing techniques to use during longer quilting/sewing sessions, best tip she had was to re-train ourselves to NOT sleep w/ our hands & wrists twisted or curled. Once a year we have a vendors night when whoever wants to can rent a table and spread the wares for sale. Some guild members clear out the sewing room this way. Some of our favorite vendors from our annual quilt show are specially invited; first come, first rent, limited space. During this evening the president's challenge is also shown and voted on; she's given out patterns earlier in the year, maybe for aprons, maybe it's pillowcases, tote bags, whatever; the challenge returns are voted on via viewers' choice, winners get a prize; there are usually more door prizes for this evening. Includes a potluck dinner, too. December is another potluck w/ lots of door prizes, drawings, show & tell, local choir or orchestra entertains us. This month we're having a mini workshop; don't know what the project is but I've come home in the past from these w/ fabric pins, chatelaines, something simple and fun. One time we traded nickel charm packs (5" squares of fabric, no 2 alike, a set number of squares in each pack) and had a blast looking at "I've never seen this fabric before!" goodies. Quilt members have traveled all over, many moved here from elsewhere, we ask them to share their quilting backgrounds (south America, Hawaii, Sweden, Germany, France) when their experience is quite different from mainland USA; different influences, often quite interesting. My First Quilt or the first one we can find from our collections is a fun program; members bring 2 quilts, older and recent, for a huge show & tell, share a little of what we've learned over the years; this esp. involves our older members and the middle-aged ones who've been quilting a long time. Surprising to see the newbies' progress, too. Every few years we have quilt show judges who tell us "what we look for in a Winning Quilt"; they help answer the questions we all have when we wonder, "How'd that win a ribbon? What were the judges thinking?!!" Check w/ the LQSes to see what they have to offer in the way of talent; many get news of trunk shows and new quilting teachers and techniques before the rest of us. We seem to get the most "I loved the program!" comments when we keep it local.
Good luck!
Ragmop/Sandy
On 7/3/06 11:45 PM, in article 8vWdnXWBD97fbzTZnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com,