chrisquilter Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 We are starting a long arm group in Southwest Ohio, (Dayton, Xenia, Centerville area) and I am looking for ideas from other long arm groups as to what you do in your meetings, activities, education ect. Any suggestions would be really helpful. Thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 I don't have any suggestions, but I'd love to join you. It will be about a 5 or 6 hour drive for me, but I would do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisquilter Posted June 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Teresa, I will certainly let you know when we get this organized! I would be more than happy to put you up at our house. We are just organizing, so it may take a while to get it together. I have two sisters who live in Tennessee, but they are in Cookeville. LOL I just looked this up and you are only about 19 miles from Cookeville. Small world. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted June 24, 2015 Report Share Posted June 24, 2015 If you can get a core of enthusiastic members as your decision makers, you can do whatever you like. Since you're new and probably have no money to play with, you'll depend on members to provide a place to meet. This can be in their homes or at a longarmer-friendly quilt shop. Sometimes churches are available without cost, or the community center of a housing development. Decide on how often to meet and plan out as many meeting places as you can in advance, trying to rotate through the group. Or keep the same place for every meeting. Longarmers are a busy bunch and sometimes a meeting will conflict with quilt shows or the holiday crunch time, so decide on a meeting time like "first Thursday at 2pm" or the like so members can plan. Be flexible and change what you need to in order to keep your members coming. Our group brings pot luck for food (it's always fabulous) and we charge no dues. We meet at someone's home but usually only meet three times a year. Activities? The host usually has a fun make-and-take. We have show and tell and also "what would you quilt on this". Sometimes someone will demo a new tool or technique. Sharing is rampant. Need a feathers lesson? Here you go. Don't know how to do curved crosshatching? Here's the easy way. What thread do you like and dislike? If we visit a show or take classes, we share opinions about the instructor. We also discuss the trends in quilting and fabric. And we share war stories, cry over losses, and have a safe place to vent. Nothing better! Things to think about? Should you pay dues and what should those dues pay for? How "official" do you want to be? Or how casual? Do you need a set leader or will the host run the show when they offer their home for the meeting? Will you do charity work like other guilds? Who will organize that? If you want to attract new members, how will that be done? Or if you want to limit the membership, how will that be decided? You're in the planning stages so you have the luxury of starting from scratch. And because it's not a formal group or affiliated with a larger guild, you get to set your own rules and change them any time you need to. Have a great time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted June 24, 2015 Report Share Posted June 24, 2015 Chris, let me know when things are organized. It is cool that your sisters live in Cookeville. That is over east of Nashville, right. It is about 250 miles from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted June 24, 2015 Report Share Posted June 24, 2015 What a great idea! I wish we had one closer than 50 miles away.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlsa3 Posted June 24, 2015 Report Share Posted June 24, 2015 I just joined a quilt guild month last month so I'm no expert and have nothing to compare this one with but I'll tell you what impressed me the most. First, to me it was a very large guild....probably 75-100 people showed up...I think they have something like 130 + members. They have officers...they provide refreshments and who brings the refreshments depends on your birthday....example: all who have June birthdays bring snacks for that month (at least those that want to bring snacks...nothing mandatory) They make quilts and other things for charity....once a year (this coming meeting will be the meeting day for this) they have "sew day." People bring their sewing machines and spend about 4 hours sewing and making things for charity...then a short meal and then the regular meeting. Throughout the year they make things for charity not just on sew day. They normally bring in a speaker each month. They have a banquet each year....they have show and tell. One of the things that they just started that went along with show and tell I thought was fun. The leader asked those that wanted to participate to turn in a list of 12 UFO's. Each month the leader would draw a number and that number told you which ufo to work on for show and tell for the next month. That was a lot of fun to watch. One woman spent 3 hours trying to find that particular UFO because she forgot what she did with it but found it and that's all she got to do on it but she showed it anyway. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisquilter Posted June 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2015 Thank you all for your informative answers. I am going to look like a very smart person at our first meeting to organize this group. Linda, I have a feeling we are going to try to keep it pretty casual. Hopefully no one who joins has a burr up their behind. LOL Teresa, I must have typed the wrong city in before. Quite a difference in distance! I will keep you in the loop. Thanks David, our group will be much smaller I think, but it sounds like you have joined a good organization! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferBernard Posted June 25, 2015 Report Share Posted June 25, 2015 Sounds exciting to create a new group. A small group does have advantages because you can watch on line demos and things as part of your activities. Everyone can see a computer screen without having to have extra technology that may or may not work! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamelaA Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 Chris, Would you consider someone from Chillicothe for your group? There are several of us in the Chillicothe area and I know many (me for one!) would like to join a group such as you are planning. Pamela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisquilter Posted June 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 Hi Pamela, We are having our first planning meeting on July 4th, In my humble opinion, there is always room for more ideas and sharing. The only question is having a space to meet if we have a large group. But I think I have a plan for that! Let me contact you after this initial meeting and we will go on from there. I look forward to meeting you! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamelaA Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Chris, I look forward to hearing from you. I will send you a PM with my contact information. Pamela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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