As we approach Thanksgiving, one of the things I'm thankful for is this group. I joined 20 years ago this year. I came from a very large guild in Tidewater where I never felt part of anything to this little group near my new home where I was welcomed and embraced immediately. Country School is the only organization that I've remained part of since I moved here.
There are two things that make Country School Quilters really special. The first is NO DRAMA. We had a drama phase several years ago and once that was over I think we all tacitly agreed that we would never allow that again and that has, thankfully, held. The other thing that makes CSQ special is the varied talent of our members. I learn something every month that I attend because there's always someone doing something that I haven't tried or haven't even seen before. Today I want to encourage you to get more involved and consider doing a program for the group.
So too follow up on Marcy's post yesterday I thought I'd offer some ideas that might get you started on a program idea that you could do. We have so many members now that if every member volunteered to take responsibility for 1 program we would have programs for at least 3 years!
My program in January will be some ideas for veterans quilts. It's not anything special that I have to put together because I've already been working on some veterans quilt ideas to help me deal with the massive amounts of scrap and stash fabric that I have.
I'm finishing up an Indonesian batik quilt and I had a lot of scraps from these expensive fabrics. I din't want them to go to waste so I decided to design a veterans quilt to use them up. So my program for January is really nothing more than show-and-tell for what I'm doing in December. Programs do not have to be difficult or require a lot of time.
Don't let the idea of doing a program scare you. We are a friendly bunch and are grateful for you to share more about what you are interested in or working on at the moment. But if you are nervous, consider teaming up with your quilt buddy and doing a program together. Also, remember they don't have to last a long time. Just 20 - 30 minutes is great!
Here are a few questions/ideas to get you thinking:
- Do you use a lot of specialty rulers that you could demo how to use?
- Is there a gift item that you have made that you would like to demo?
- Are you a new member with lots of quilts? We would love a trunk show. Rita did this for us a few months ago and it was fantastic.
- Do you make a lot of scrap quilts? We would all love your ideas for taking scraps.
- Are you or do you know a physical therapist that might talk to us about quilting injuries and exercises?
- Have you researched different types of batting?
- Do you specialize in a technique that you would like to share? EPP, trapunto, foundation piecing, writing on quilts, hand quilting.....
- Is your sewing room amazingly organized? Maybe you could share some tips with us.
- Would you like to host a BOM, challenge or other group project?
- Do you know someone who could do a program? We are in a situation where we could possibly pay for a program if the group agrees.
- Do you work with a local organization that takes donated quilts? Maybe they could come speak to us about that the do, what kind of support they need and how they use quilts.
There are tons of ideas and I know that we have amazing talent in our group. I hope you will consider sharing your talent with us!
